Fauvism

Fauvism was one of the first 20th century movements in modern art. This movement began in 1899 in France and ended in 1908 although it still inspires artists today. Vincent Van Gogh was one artist to help fauvism become more well-known. Fauvism was used by artists to express their emotions, hence why a lot of bright colours are used for sometimes very dull pictures.

Key Features

• One of the most important features of traditional fauvism is the use of colour as its own separate element in a composition, rather than just an addition. Because of this, colour has much more influence on the message the piece of art is portraying than many other well-recognised art movements, as well as establishing a structure, regardless of whether or not this colour is realistic in the natural world.
• There is also a very strong emphasis on overall composition in Fauvist artwork. This is because the simplified forms and colours mean there can be a lack of intricate detail and more attention is drawn to the layout of the features.
• Finally, like most other artistic movements, Fauvism values individual expression and usually depicts the artist’s direct experience of a subject, their emotional response to it and their own intuition.

Examples