CANVASES, CARATS AND CURIOSITIES

Fauvism and the Use of Intense Color

Origins of the Fauvism Art Movement (1905-1910)

The roots of Fauvism can be traced to Gustave Moreau, a pioneering figure and a somewhat controversial teacher at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. A Symbolist himself, Moreau taught Henri Matisse, Marquet, Manguin and others during the 1890s, imparting a belief in the expressive power of pure color. This conviction resonated deeply with his students, providing a rare open-mindedness in what was otherwise the strict epicenter of academic art. According to Matisse, Moreau "did not set us on the right roads, but off the roads. He disturbed our complacency." This encouragement to explore the untamed potential of color was the spark that would ignite the Fauvist movement.

With Moreau’s “green light,” Matisse and his peers journeyed to Belle Île, off the coast of Brittany, where they immersed themselves in the vibrant landscapes. Inspired by the works of Van Gogh and other post-Impressionists, they began creating bold canvases that went beyond the Impressionists' bright palettes, embracing intense, unrestrained colors.

In 1905, this group—including Matisse, Marquet, Kees van Dongen and Camoin—exhibited their work at the Salon d'Automne. Critic Louis Vauxcelles famously remarked on their wild use of color, calling them "les fauves" or “wild beasts.” And so, the name Fauvism was born, capturing the spirit of a movement that dared to unleash color in all its emotive force.

Henri Matisse is arguably the most celebrated of the Fauvist painters, renowned for his bold, saturated colors that evoke a profound sense of joy and emotional depth. His work often juxtaposes colors that might traditionally clash, yet his compositions maintain a harmonious balance, captivating viewers with their expressive power. A prime example of this is his landscape Grand Paysage, Mont Alban, a testament to his mastery over the dynamic interplay of light and nature.

In this work, Matisse places the viewer at a vantage point along the road to Mont Alban, a medieval fortress and hillside lookout that offers sweeping views of a seaside town in the south of France. Frequenting this landmark, Matisse quietly observed the radiant, sun-drenched landscapes of the French Riviera. Here, he invites the viewer into that luminous world, using flattened planes and thick, painterly strokes to render the vibrant countryside.

A sandy path winds up the hill, leading into a dense forest, while rolling green hills gently descend toward white-washed, blue-roofed buildings below. Above, a bright blue sky radiates both warmth and coolness, filling the scene with a unique luminosity that draws the viewer into a serene moment of solitude. Through color and form, Matisse offers not only a view of the landscape but also an invitation to experience its quiet vitality and tranquil beauty.

By 1906, Fauvism had established itself as a defining movement in early 20th-century art, challenging the boundaries of aesthetic conventions and redefining the role of color in painting. Like most of the art movements born in an age of mechanized transportation and electricity, it did not stay in France alone. Take, for example, this 1908 work by Alexej von Jawlensky, fondly regarded as the “Russian Matisse.”

Alexej von Jawlensky was born in 1864 and studied at the esteemed St. Petersburg Academy. Throughout his prolific career, his style evolved from working with lush colors to exploring abstraction and Fauvism, eventually embracing Expressionism through his friendships with Henri Matisse and Emil Nolde. Jawlensky also played a significant role in the development of the Blue Rider movement and the careers of other artists, including Kandinsky and Münter.

A symphony of shapes and hues, this composition captures a seemingly quiet interior scene bursting with life. Punctuated by vibrant flowers blooming from a vase and a flourishing houseplant, the still life teems with energy. Jawlensky achieves a three-dimensional texture by applying opaque paint with bold brushstrokes that contrast with the composition's flattened planes. The fiery hues of the table juxtaposed with the cool tones of the wall create a mesmerizing visual dichotomy. While the bold contrasts of shape and color, flatness and texture, evoke a connection to Matisse, Jawlensky’s unique originality shines through, and this composition exemplifies why he is held in such high regard.

Expressionism: Color as Emotion

German Expressionism (circa 1905-1920)

While Fauvism found its heartbeat in France, the German Expressionist movement spread across Europe, gaining particular momentum in the years surrounding World War I. Although the entire Western world was affected by the war, Germany, as the defeated nation, faced unparalleled devastation and profound financial and societal upheaval in its aftermath. Unlike the French Fauves, who often used color to evoke joy and vitality, German Expressionists wielded color to convey emotional intensity and critique social conditions. The movement emerged as a reaction to the alienation and disruption of modern life, with its artists employing bold, often jarring colors to capture the anxieties and tensions of the era.

Emil Nolde was one of the foremost German Expressionists, renowned for his emotionally charged landscapes that convey an intense sense of unease. His involvement in the seminal Die Brücke (The Bridge) group connects him to one of the earliest and most influential artist collectives, pivotal to the evolution of modern art. Nolde’s unique interplay of color and form distinguished him from his contemporaries, marking his work as a significant milestone toward modernism.

However, Nolde’s career faced severe setbacks under the Nazi regime, which condemned his art as “decadent.” In 1937, 33 of his works were exhibited in the infamous Entartete Kunst (Degenerate Art) Exhibition in Munich, where they were labeled a “threat” to German culture. Ultimately, the Nazis confiscated over a thousand of his works—the largest seizure from any artist—and destroyed hundreds more. Nolde himself was forbidden from painting, a devastating blow to his career and artistic legacy.

In this landscape, brilliant, amorphous fields of color evoke the vast, marshy expanses of Nolde’s native Schleswig-Holstein, near the German-Danish border. His powerful, expressive brushstrokes capture the fleeting impression of passing storm clouds, allowing glimpses of light and sky to illuminate the vibrant hues below. Fluidity and immediacy were paramount to Nolde’s creative process, as he once explained: 'I try to avoid all thinking. A vague concept of color and luminosity suffices, and the picture evolves during the act of painting.' His mastery of watercolor, with its flow and spontaneity, allowed Nolde to achieve an unparalleled vibrancy in this medium.

Marc Chagall: Colorist who defied movements

One 20th-century artist stands out as one of the era’s most celebrated colorists, yet he consistently defied the movements and “-isms” that many of his contemporaries embraced. Marc Chagall, a Belarusian-born Jewish artist, spent much of his life in Paris and the United States, forced into exile by revolution, antisemitism and war. As an artist without borders, his work embodies a unique fusion of Expressionism, Surrealism, Fauvism and Symbolism, yet it resists any singular categorization. Chagall’s dreamlike compositions—filled with vibrant colors, floating figures and folkloric symbols—reflect influences from the early 20th-century styles he encountered, but always retain a distinctly personal vision.

Expressionism’s emotional intensity, Surrealism’s exploration of the subconscious, and Fauvism’s daring use of color all informed Chagall’s work. However, his art remained personal and whimsical, often diverging from more ideological or structured approaches. Chagall’s style, often described as "Chagallian," prioritizes emotional resonance and poetic imagery over rigid adherence to any movement's principles. Take, for example, this mesmerizing composition from 1952, where the motif of lovers—a hallmark of his work—symbolizes his deep affection for his first wife, Bella Rosenfeld, and the grief he felt after her passing in 1944.

In this remarkable work, a couple overlooks a Russian cityscape inspired by his beloved village, destroyed in World War II. Rather than dwelling in resentment, Chagall uses bold, brightly colored and dreamlike settings to express the emotional turbulence of his life. Though he initially avoided pinks and reds while mourning Bella and grappling with displacement, he eventually returned to these intense hues as a testament to his resilience. This reintegration of color cemented Chagall’s legacy as a master colorist, with his radiant reds among the most prized elements of his palette.

Color Most Simplified: Rothko

Color Field Painting (1950s'-1960s)

No exploration of colorists would be complete without mentioning artists who explored color in its most simplified—yet profoundly complex—forms. Mark Rothko stands as one of the most recognizable figures in Color Field painting and remains one of the most coveted modern artists on the market.

Rothko was not alone in his use of expansive fields of color to create meditative, almost transcendent, spaces on canvas. Color Field painters like Barnett Newman and Helen Frankenthaler also applied broad, flat areas of color without representational subject matter, inviting viewers to immerse themselves fully in the mood or emotional quality of color itself. Unlike other Abstract Expressionism styles, such as action painting (exemplified by Jackson Pollock’s energetic drips and splatters), Color Field painting is contemplative, often avoiding visible brushstrokes or textural detail in favor of smooth, uninterrupted expanses.

Rothko’s abstractions—famous for their soft-edged rectangular forms that seem to float on the canvas—are considered by critics and historians to invoke the metaphysical. The Russian-American painter relied on formal elements, such as color and form, to infuse his work with profound meaning. He famously asserted that his paintings represent the “basic human emotions—tragedy, ecstasy, doom.”

Despite Rothko’s “anti-establishment” approach, his work has long captivated the art market. In May 2012, Orange, Red, Yellow (1961) sold for $86.9 million at Christie’s in New York, soaring past its $45 million estimate. Just three years later, in May 2015, Rothko’s No. 10 (1958) fetched $81.9 million during Christie’s postwar and contemporary art evening sale in New York. This work, part of the prestigious Seagram Building commission, features dark orange forms hovering over a black background, their subtle glow creating an almost haloed effect, emblematic of Rothko’s ability to convey deep emotion through color alone.

Though some of Rothko’s harshest critics dismiss his work as overly simplistic, anyone with an artist’s eye understands that color is never just “color.” Rich with complexity and deeply tied to humanity’s most profound emotions, color is one of the artist's most powerful tools to evoke meaning and capture the essence of life. It’s remarkable to consider that the art movements discussed here span less than a century—leaving us to wonder, with great fascination, where the next hundred years of artistic exploration will lead.

Are you interested in more explorations of color in modern art? Explore our collection here, and don’t forget to read up on some of our favorite artists!