Fauvism is a style of painting that flourished in France around the turn of the 20th century. Fauvism is characterized by the use of pure, brilliant colors applied straight from the paint tubes to create a sense of an explosion on the canvas. Fauvism was influenced by the post-impressionist works of Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, and Georges Seurat, who used vivid colors and expressive forms to convey their personal visions and emotions. Fauvism was also a reaction against the realism, naturalism, and impressionism of the 19th century, which aimed to capture the objective reality of the external world.

The name Fauvism comes from the French word fauve, which means “wild beast”. The term was coined by the critic Louis Vauxcelles, who saw the paintings of Henri Matisse and André Derain in an exhibition in Paris in 1905 and exclaimed: "Donatello among the wild beasts!" He was shocked by the violence and intensity of their works, which contrasted with the more conventional and refined paintings of their contemporaries. The Fauvists embraced this label and used it to define their movement.

The leader of Fauvism was Henri Matisse, who experimented with different post-impressionist approaches before developing his distinctive fauvist style. He used bright colors, simple shapes, and loose brushstrokes to create paintings that expressed his feelings and perceptions. He often painted landscapes, still lifes, and portraits, such as Woman with a Hat (1905), The Joy of Life (1905-06), and The Red Studio (1911). He also explored the effects of light and color on different materials, such as fabrics, wallpapers, and carpets.

Other important Fauvist artists were André Derain, Maurice de Vlaminck, Georges Braque, Raoul Dufy, Albert Marquet, Henri Manguin, Charles Camoin, Jean Puy, Othon Friesz, Kees van Dongen, and Georges Rouault. They shared Matisse’s interest in the expressive function of color in painting, but they also developed their own personal styles and techniques. They painted various subjects, such as landscapes, cityscapes, seascapes, nudes, animals, and flowers.

Fauvism was one of the first avant-garde movements of the 20th century and one of the first steps towards abstraction in modern art. It inspired many later movements, such as Expressionism , Cubism , Orphism , Futurism , Abstract Expressionism , Color Field Painting , and others. Fauvism also influenced other fields of art, such as sculpture , ceramics , stained glass , and textiles