Maurice de Vlaminck

Maurice de Vlaminck (1876 - 1958), a self-taught French painter, was one of the creators of the painting style known as Fauvism.

In 1900 Vlaminck met the painter André Derain and the two shared a studio from 1900 to 1901. In 1901 Vlaminck saw an exhibition of van Gogh paintings and, like Derain and many other young artists, was struck by the older artist’s powerful brushwork and intense use of colour. That same year, Derain introduced Vlaminck to Henri Matisse. Vlaminck was soon experimenting with pure, intense colour drawn straight from the tube and applied in thick daubs. From 1905 – 1908, together with Matisse and Derain, Vlaminck was one of the major exponents of Fauvism, the name itself; les fauves ('the wild beasts') having been coined by the critic Louis Vauxcelles when he saw the work of Derain, Matisse and Vlaminck in an exhibition at the salon d'automne in Paris, in 1905. Like the other artists who worked in this style, Vlaminck painted landscapes and figure studies, usually preferring a palette of primary colours, and used broken brushstrokes and expressive lines to define his spontaneous compositions.

The 1907 retrospective of Paul Cézanne’s paintings left a deep impression on Vlaminck who began to emulate the Post-Impressionist artist’s work. Vlaminck adopted a more subdued palette and turned to painting landscapes with solid compositions. After World War I Vlaminck left Paris and moved to the countryside, where he painted rural scenes in a dramatic, mannered style. He also continued to write poetry, fiction, and memoirs, as well as illustrating a number of books.