During the summer of 1905, artists Henri Matisse (French, 1869–1954) and André Derain (French, 1880–1954) went on holiday to Collioure, a French fishing village near the Spanish border. Enchanted by the shifting light over the eastern Mediterranean landscape, the pair vehemently produced vibrant images drenched in color. These radical pictures laid the groundwork for a new visual language known as Fauvism, the first avant-garde movement to flourish in France during the early 20th century.
Derived from the French fauve, meaning “wild beast,” Fauvism was defined by sontaneous and impassioned compositions that evoked the artists’ sensations over objective reality. Matisse and Derain were among the first to break with Impressionism as well as traditional methods of perception, and their unprecedented creations marked a significant stride into modernism when they exhibited their controversial works at the Salon d’Automne later that year.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue through January 21, 2024, Vertigo of Color: Matisse, Derain, and the Origins of Fauvism examines the paintings, drawings, and watercolors made by Matisse and Derain during that pivotal summer, and emphasizes Fauvism's impact on the trajectory of art.
Below, shop the exhibition catalogue and other items celebrating Matisse and Derain.
Vertigo of Color: Matisse, Derain, and the Origins of Fauvism
By Dita Amory, Robert Lehman Curator in Charge of the Lehman Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and Ann Dumas, consultant curator of European Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, with contributions by Isabelle Duvernois and Isabelle Monod-Fontaine.
This richly illustrated exhibition catalogue features images of over 70 paintings, watercolors, and drawings produced by Matisse and Derain during their stay in Collioure. The book also brings to life their personal and artistic revelations with 21 of their letters, published here for the first time in English. Vivid and engaging texts detail their daring experiments with color, form, structure, and perspective; the scandal their paintings caused when they were exhibited several months later; and how, despite the jeering remarks from critics, these works changed the course of French painting. Emphasizing as never before the legacy of that summer, this publication shows how the two artists’ radical investigations galvanized their contemporaries, and how this strain of modernism, created almost by accident, resonates even into the present day.
Derain Palace of Westminster Silk Scarf
This eye-catching silk scarf translates an ethereal painting in The Met collection into a work of wearable art. Derain made The Palace of Westminster in 1906–7 after visiting London to capture the Thames and Houses of Parliament in changing light.
Derain Palace of Westminster Tote
Derain was inspired by Claude Monet, who painted a series of similarly atmospheric views in London a few years earlier. Derain's bold colors and long, broken brushstrokes, beautifully reproduced on our canvas tote, indicate the influence of his peer Matisse, as well as Neo-Impressionists Paul Signac and Henri-Edmond Cross.
Matisse Poster Wall Calendar 2024
Matisse went on to become one of the most acclaimed artists of the first half of the 20th century. His experimentations with color, light, and form led to a distinctive and groundbreaking style, from his early Fauvist paintings to his late-career paper cutouts. This 2024 wall calendar reproduces 12 of Matisse's bold works—all from The Met collection—which can be removed and transformed into frameable posters.
Shop more exhibition-related designs at The Met’s Fifth Avenue store and online at metmuseum.org.
