Vertigo of Color: Matisse, Derain, and the Origins of Fauvism

In the summer of 1905, Henri Matisse and André Derain embarked on a creative partnership that would change the course of French painting. The two painters experimented with daring directions in energetic bursts of color, form, and structure that eventually led to a boldly inventive artistic language known as Fauvism (from the French fauve, or “wild beast”).

While staying in the modest French fishing village of Collioure, Matisse (1869–1954) and Derain (1880–1954) drew from local surroundings as they experienced the bustling life of the port, the quiet beaches, and surrounding landscapes. A new aesthetic of color and light was in process.

Vertigo of Color features many of the most celebrated works of Fauvism. The exhibition presents, for the first time in the United States, the legacy of that legendary summer through paintings, drawings, and watercolors by the two artists, on loan from national and international museums and private collections.

Their evolving visual language grew from sensory experience of a moment in time, rather than reality. As Matisse wrote, “My choice of colors does not rest on any scientific theory; it is based on observation, on feeling, on the experience of my sensibility.”