Until 29 January 2017 you can appreciate the meaning of passion for colour. The exhibition, which offers a complete and considered presentation of fauvism, brings together over one hundred paintings as well as numerous drawings, watercolours and a selection of ceramic pieces at Fundación MAPFRE Recoletos Exhibition Hall (Paseo de Recoletos 23, 28004 Madrid).
The exhibition has been produced by Fundación MAPFRE and has only been possible thanks to the support of more than eighty lenders who have collaborated with the show. Notable amongst these are the TATE, the Centre Georges Pompidou, the City of Paris Museum of Modern Art, the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen of Düsseldorf, the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Statens Museum of Denmark. The generosity of more than thirty private collectors has also been essential, who have lent works that are less well-known to the general public but nevertheless of extraordinary quality.
Fauvism was the first major avant-garde art movement of the 20th century. It was a controversial and exuberant one based on the exaltation of pure tones, locating the autonomy of colour at the centre of the artistic debate. Henri Matisse was its leading representative accompanied by other artists with whom he shared a new vision of painting along with a constant desire to learn and experiment. Together with André Derain and Maurice de Vlaminck he led the group which also included Albert Marquet, Henri Manguin, Charles Camoin, Jean Puy, Raoul Dufy, Othon Friesz, Georges Braque, Georges Rouault and Kees van Dongen. These staunch proponents of provocative colour and of executing work from a personal perspective were particularly committed to developing a number of themes such as portraits of the group’s members, luminous landscapes, the ambience of the French Mediterranean, intimate spaces and the atmosphere of sordid nightlife.
Additional information at Fundación MAPFRE Website
Maurice de Vlaminck (1876-1958) Restaurant de la Machine a Bougival, ca.1905 (extract)
A Crime is Afoot 