Week 11: The colorful art of Andre Derain

View of Collioure 1905 by Andre Derain 26*32 3/8" Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany

This painting is a representation of a small port on the Mediterranean coast in the south of France called Collioure. First in front of us there are weath fields borded by trees typical to this region: Tall with leaves only over their top that give an impression of them wearing a hat. In the background, we see a town with its houses and red roofs. One of the buildings seems to stand out more than the others, and its shape might suggest that it is a church. Eventually, behind the houses is the dark blue see that differentiates itself from the lighter blue sky. On the top right of the painting, between sky and sea we can observe the outline of an hill diving into the water. The drawing is colorful, balancing between warm colors like yellow, red and orange that confuses eyes between the wheat field with the village and the green and blue hues of the trees, water and sky.
The artist uses an all new technique of painting at that time: he mixes teh Pointillism of Seurat but add a touch of freshness in it by making it less strictlike. Indeed, Andre Derain was also inspired by the work of Van Gogh and Gaugin: the vivid colors and the thicker "points" (if, in fact, they can still be called points).

Also, Derain did not paint this to give a realistic representation of what he saw. For instance, the colors are certainly not accurate to this landscape. He painted this in hope to transmitt his feelings, the warmth of the sun, the shinning light that it produced, the breeze and the smell coming from the sea. His purpose was not to make us look at the painting but to invite us in a voyage to this place, to influence us to enter the painting and lives it with all our sensations: taste, smell, sounds of the crickets.. Through his art, Andre Derain hoped to bring us to a better place for a little while, that would last as long as we contemplated his painting. And indeed, being from France, i personally feel like taking a trip back home through this image and it brings in me warm emotions. The purpose of the author's work is then fulfilled.

[View of Collioure] by Derain, rarely or never before seen in this country, surpass the promise held by reproductions

The Wild Beasts -- Fauvism and Its Affinities at the Museum of Modern Art

Henri Dorra

Art Journal
Vol. 36, No. 1 (Autumn, 1976), pp. 50-54