20th Century French Art Movements

Fauvism, Cubism and Surrealism

20th Century French Art

French Fauvism is a style of painting that flourished in France from 1898-1908 whose influences are still felt in 20th century French art. It used pure, brilliant colour, applied straight from the paint tubes in an aggressive manner to create the sense of an explosion on the canvas.

The Fauves painted directly from nature as the Impressionists had before them, but their works were invested with a strong expressive reaction to the subjects they painted.

First formally exhibited in Paris in 1905, Fauvist paintings shocked visitors to the annual Salon d'Automne.

One of these visitors was the critic Louis Vauxcelles who, because of the violence of their works, dubbed the painters "Les Fauves" (Wild Beasts).

Fauvism was directly influenced by pointilism and the works of Georges Seurat.

Some influential Fauvist's were Henri Matisse, Andre Derain and Raoul Dufy.

Cubism

"The art of painting original arrangements composed of elements taken from conceived rather than perceived reality." -- Guillaume Apollinaire, "The Beginnings of Cubism", 1912.

The Cubist movement in painting was developed by Picasso and Braque around 1907 and became a major influence on 20th century French art.

They provided what we could almost call a God's-eye view of reality: every aspect of the whole subject, seen simultaneously in a single dimension.

The work up to 1912 is known as Analytical Cubism, concentrating on geometrical forms using subdued colors.

The second phase, known as Synthetic Cubism, used more decorative shapes, stencilling, collage, and brighter colors.

It was then that artists such as Picasso and Braque started to use pieces of cut-up newspaper in their paintings.

They particularly admired the Post- Impressionist Seurat, for his careful and intellectual approach. The Cubists also appreciated the primitive work of Paul Gauguin.

The Cubist style rejected the traditional techniques of perspective, foreshortening and modeling, as well as the notion of art as an "imitation of nature."

Surrealism

Founded by Andre Breton in 1924, it was a primarily European movement which attracted many members of the Dada movement.

It was similar in some respects to the late 19th-century Symbolist movement, but deeply influenced by the psychoanalytic work of Freud and Jung.

The Surrealist circle was made up of many of the great artists of 20th century French art, including Jean Arp, Max Ernst, Giorgio de Chirico, Man Ray, Joan Miro, and Rene Magritte.

Salvador Dali, probably the single best-known Surrealist artist, was somewhat of an outsider due to his right-wing politics - during this period leftism was fashionable among Surrealists, in fact in almost all intellectual circles.

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