Andre Derain

Born on June 10th 1880 in Chatou, near Paris, André Derain was to become a leading figure of the Fauve movement that lasted only a few years in France. He received a bourgeois education from his father who was a well-off pastry-cook but soon gave up his studies at 15 after feeling an obsessive urge to become a painter. Derain was a self-taught artist who often went to the Louvre museum to copy old masters, notably primitive Italian artists, and soon worked on the spot near his home. In 1898 he studied in the Camillo studio, rue de Rennes in Paris, and met Matisse and also Vlaminck with whom he shared a studio in Chatou, not far from Chez Fournaise, a favourite meeting place for many Impressionist painters. Between 1901 and 1904 Derain did his military service in Commercy and continued to paint while on leave. In 1904, Derain returned to copy old masters in the Louvre where his fellow-student Linaret died in front of his easel while copying an Italian work. Fauvism already existed thanks to a Van Gogh exhibition, which had taken place in 1899 or so. His friend Linaret had also instilled pure red and blue colours in his copies produced before 1904. His encounter with Vlaminck proved essential in the development of his career as both artists spent long hours talking and working together. During his military service Vlaminck used to write him many letters referring to painting above all. Vlaminck only started to paint in 1900 whereas Derain had already mastered many techniques. In February 1905 Ambroise Vollard offered him a contract which enabled him to earn a somewhat comfortable living. Much influenced by Cézanne he had produced some interesting landscapes, portraits and still lifes. Derain experimented Fauvism further in his works at the end of 1904 or the beginning of 1905, notably with the Pecq Bridge, which represented an audacious scene, while "Divisionism" triumphed with an exhibition of Pierre Signac’s works in December 1904.

Andre Derain Images:
Landscape in Southern France
London Bridge
Pont De Charing Cross
The Pool of London