Painting of the Month (49) September 2014: Vlaminck

Restaurant de la Machine à Bougival, 1905

"You talkin'' to me? You must be talkin' 
to me 'cos there ain't no-one else here!"

Mauruce de Vlaminck, 1876-1958, was a member of The Fauves, (literally 'Wild Beasts') a group of painters working in the early twentieth century led by Henri Matisse. The other leading member of the group, beside those two was André Derain. The main characteristic of Fauvism was 'colourism': a way of expressing mood through the use of strong and strident colour rather than painted detail. In the picture above there is no real attempt to depict reality. The loose style of composition can be seen as a development of post-impressionism - mainly via the work of Van Gogh and Gauguin. Fauvism was soon overtaken as a movement by Cubism and Vlaminck 'blamed' Picasso for it's demise. He looked like a heavyweight boxer and not the kind of chap that you might want to upset!
He travelled all over France to paint and also spent some time painting by the Thames in London.
The works of the Fauvists are usually very colourful, of course, and rather cheery with a high 'feel good' factor. Another striking example of his colourful work is shown below.

A Day in the Country, 1905

Continuing my new experiment of naming the music I am listening to while posting or commenting - right now it’s: ‘All Apologies’ by Nirvana. Listen on You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LFVQpDKHk4