Fauvism can be seen both as the culmination and final moment of Post Impressionism and as the beginnings of twentieth century European Modernism. The leading Fauve artists were Henri Matisse, Andre Derain and Vlaminck_Maurice de ; also central and closely associated were Henri Manguin , Jean Puy, Charles Camoin, and Albert Marquet ; finally Georges Braque, Raoul Dufy, Emile-Othon Friesz , Louis Valtat and Dongen_Kees van had significant, though looser or more transient associations with the group. The fauve artists were in fact rather disparate and loosely tied, working in fluctuating artistic partnerships and never defining or adhering to one artistic style or set of beliefs. However in the years between c.1904 and 1907 they shared an exhilarating and overwhelming ambition to paint their subjects with raw and pure colour and to simplify the forms in order to heighten the expressiveness of their works, to an extent never previously seen. Matisse, Manguin, Marquet, Camoin, Derain and Vlaminck joined forces in October 1905 to exhibit in the central room (salle VII) of the Salon d’Automne and the label ‘fauve’ – from the French ‘wild beast’ – originates from the critic Louis Vauxcelles’ review in Gil Blas. The exhibition was generally met with critical outrage and incomprehension, except by a few perspicacious dealers and collectors. There were also important public Fauve exhibitions at the Salon des Independents in March-April 1905 and again at the Salon d’Automne of 1906 (October-November). The artists that became the Fauves belonged to the generation that had apprenticed with the Post Impressionists and Symbolists and it was the achievements of these groups that facilitated their freedom. These young artists were particularly inspired and affected by flat areas of colour in the art of Paul Gauguin; the colour and frenzied expressiveness of the art of Vincent van Gogh; and the classicism and constructive form of Paul Cezanne. Matisse, Manguin, Marquet and Camoin (and later Puy) studied together in 1898 at the atelier of the Symbolist artist Gustave Moreau at the Academie des Beaux Arts, and were marked by his encouragement of experimentation and self-expression. This group retained close ties, and Matisse as the elder and foremost artist, naturally became the group’s leader. The seminal work that Matisse produced on his return from St. Tropez in 1904 where he had worked with Paul Signac – Luxe, calme et volupté - deeply impressed and inspired many of his artist colleagues and acted as a sort of catalyst for Fauvism’s abrupt entry into the public arena. Meanwhile, Derain and Vlaminck were working together in Chatou from 1900. Derain introduced Matisse to the self-taught and highly spirited Vlaminck in 1901 and the two found a significant rapport in their interest in so-called ‘primitive’ African sculpture and in their pursuit of painting with a radical intuitive, primitive vision. Matisse and Derain subsequently worked fervently together at the small fishing port of Collioure in the summer of 1905 and many of these seminal works were presented at the famous Salon d’Automne that year. Friesz and Dufy, close artist friends since 1894, and Braque also joined forces with the group from 1905. Braque and Friesz worked closely together in the summer of 1906 in Antwerp; and Dufy and Braque produced seminal works together at l’Estaque from later that year that proved on the cusp of Fauvism and Cubism. Dufy also worked with Marquet at Trouville in 1906 and joined the group exhibition at the Salon d’Automne. By 1907, the Fauves were increasingly going separate ways, and Cubism soon took over as the dominant strand in the Parisian avant-garde. Across Europe however, Fauvism continued to be of great importance in the development of Expressionism.

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