André Derain
(1880 - 1945)
biography
André Derain is regarded as a central figure in the genesis of Fauvism and one of the most important artists of early modernism. Born in Chatou in 1880, he initially studied engineering before abandoning formal training to attend the classes of Symbolist artist Eugène Carrière, where he met Henri Matisse. A close friendship with Maurice de Vlaminck followed, with the two sharing a studio in Chatou.
Derain’s Fauvist breakthrough came at Collioure in 1905, painting alongside Matisse. Works from this short but decisive period use bold palette and planes of colour, remaining among the most coveted by collectors and museums. Ambroise Vollard famously purchased nearly his entire output that year and financed two London painting campaigns in 1905 and 1906; these London views now represent a highly sought chapter of his early oeuvre. Between 1907 and 1909, Cézanne’s example introduced a more measured structure and a softened palette, marking a transition away from pure Fauvism towards Cubist adjacency and tonal restraint.
By 1911 Derain was engaging with archaic and non-Western sources, including Byzantine mosaics and African sculpture. Participation in the Der Blaue Reiter exhibitions and the 1913 Armory Show positioned him within the international avant-garde, even as his interests moved increasingly towards classical order. After military service in the First World War, he resumed work with renewed visibility; his first solo exhibition opened in 1916, and from 1919 he enjoyed a sustained parallel career in theatre design, notably for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes.
The 1920s saw a decisive re-engagement with Old Master’s such as Raphael, Titian and Poussin, resulting in a body of work that won the Carnegie Prize in 1928 and commanded significant market and institutional attention. This classical turn, however, also distanced Derain from avant-garde discourse.
Derain’s work is represented in the Musée d’Orsay, Paris; Tate, London; MoMA, New York; and major European and American collections.
Derain’s Fauvist breakthrough came at Collioure in 1905, painting alongside Matisse. Works from this short but decisive period use bold palette and planes of colour, remaining among the most coveted by collectors and museums. Ambroise Vollard famously purchased nearly his entire output that year and financed two London painting campaigns in 1905 and 1906; these London views now represent a highly sought chapter of his early oeuvre. Between 1907 and 1909, Cézanne’s example introduced a more measured structure and a softened palette, marking a transition away from pure Fauvism towards Cubist adjacency and tonal restraint.
By 1911 Derain was engaging with archaic and non-Western sources, including Byzantine mosaics and African sculpture. Participation in the Der Blaue Reiter exhibitions and the 1913 Armory Show positioned him within the international avant-garde, even as his interests moved increasingly towards classical order. After military service in the First World War, he resumed work with renewed visibility; his first solo exhibition opened in 1916, and from 1919 he enjoyed a sustained parallel career in theatre design, notably for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes.
The 1920s saw a decisive re-engagement with Old Master’s such as Raphael, Titian and Poussin, resulting in a body of work that won the Carnegie Prize in 1928 and commanded significant market and institutional attention. This classical turn, however, also distanced Derain from avant-garde discourse.
Derain’s work is represented in the Musée d’Orsay, Paris; Tate, London; MoMA, New York; and major European and American collections.
biography