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Matisse, Derain and Friends

The Paris Avantgarde 1904–1908

NEUBAU / 02.09.2023–21.01.2024 / Curators: Arthur Fink, Claudine Grammont, Josef Helfenstein


At the outset of the twentieth century, a loosely affiliated group of artists centring around Henri Matisse, André Derain and Maurice de Vlaminck conducted revolutionary experiments in color. The name Fauves was bestowed on the group in 1905 by art critic Louis Vauxcelles. He first employed “fauves” in one of his articles; the term, which in English translates as “wild beasts” or “wild animals”, was intended to characterise the clique of artists who remained little known prior to 1905. It was in the group’s expressive approach to the application of color, its striking, often virulent color schemes, as well the rejection of naturalistic renderings of local colors, that Vauxcelles discerned the break with academic precedent.

André Derain, «La danse», 1906, Privatsammlung, © 2023, ProLitteris, Zurich

André Derain, «La danse», 1906, Privatsammlung, © 2023, ProLitteris, Zurich

Fauvism was to emerge as the twentieth-century’s premier avant-garde movement. For a brief period between the years 1904–1908, it set the pace in the Paris art scene, whereby its impact endured long into the future. Georges Braque, Raoul Dufy and Kees van Dongen, among others, were to later join the movement. Fauvism coincided with the Belle Époque, an era which heralded the rapid rise of urban mass society. Fast-emerging mobility and the nascent advertising and tourism industries.

Albert Marquet, «Affiches à Trouville», 1906, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. John Hay Whitney

Albert Marquet, «Affiches à Trouville», 1906, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. John Hay Whitney

This comprehensive special exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Basel shows the Fauves’ outstanding experimentation with color. Conventional perceptions as to the style of this movement, which left such an indelible stamp on modernism, are also called into question. The show features work by the artists Émilie Charmy and Marie Laurencin, and thus for the first time provides insights into the trade in Fauvist art, a trade in which gallerist Berthe Weill was to play a decisive role.

André Derain, La femme en chemise, 1905, Statens Museum for Kunst, Kopenhagen © 2023, ProLitteris, Zurich

André Derain, La femme en chemise, 1905, Statens Museum for Kunst, Kopenhagen © 2023, ProLitteris, Zurich



Events for this exhibition

Sat 9 Dec

NEUBAU
14:00–15:00

Guided tour of the exhibition «Matisse, Derain and Friends. The Paris Avantgarde 1904–1908»

Guided tour in German. Cost: Admission + CHF 5

Wed 13 Dec

NEUBAU
18:30–19:30

Booked! Guided tour of the exhibition «Matisse, Derain and Friends. The Paris Avantgarde 1904–1908»

Guided tour in German. Cost: Admission + CHF 5

With scientific collaborator Elena Degen

Sat 16 Dec

NEUBAU
14:00–15:00

Guided tour of the exhibition «Matisse, Derain and Friends. The Paris Avantgarde 1904–1908»

Guided tour in German. Cost: Admission + CHF 5

Tue 19 Dec

RENDEZ-VOUS AM MITTAG

NEUBAU
12:30–13:00

Rendez-vous at noon: «Matisse, Derain and Friends. The Paris Avantgarde 1904–1908»

With research assistant Elena Degen. Cost: Admission

Sat 23 Dec

NEUBAU
14:00–15:00

Guided tour of the exhibition «Matisse, Derain and Friends. The Paris Avantgarde 1904–1908»

Guided tour in German. Cost: Admission + CHF 5

Sat 30 Dec

NEUBAU
14:00–15:00

Guided tour of the exhibition «Matisse, Derain and Friends. The Paris Avantgarde 1904–1908»

Guided tour in German. Cost: Admission + CHF 5

Thu 4 Jan

INSPIRED BY HER

HAUPTBAU
17:00–17:45

Inspired by Fauve's artists

Guided tour of current female positions. A series with the art mediator Iris Kretzschmar. Costs: CHF 5

Sat 6 Jan

NEUBAU
14:00–15:00

Guided tour of the exhibition «Matisse, Derain and Friends. The Paris Avantgarde 1904–1908»

Guided tour in German. Cost: Admission + CHF 5

Sun 7 Jan

Matisse meets Montessori

NEUBAU Eventfoyer
10:00–16:00

Matisse meets Montessori - The great Sunday studio

Let yourself get inspired by Matisse, Derain and their friends and get creative in our foyer. Here you can freely put your feelings on paper, draw your loved ones as you see them, design a movement course or hole up in a self-made cave. A space for self-determined experimenting, playing, exploring and learning in the sense of of the reform pedagogue Maria Montessori. In German, free participation.

 

NEUBAU
14:00–15:00

Guided tour of the exhibition «Matisse, Derain and Friends. The Paris Avantgarde 1904–1908»

In English, Cost: Admission + CHF 5

Sat 13 Jan

NEUBAU
14:00–15:00

Guided tour of the exhibition «Matisse, Derain and Friends. The Paris Avantgarde 1904–1908»

Cost: Admission + CHF 5

Tue 16 Jan

RENDEZ-VOUS AM MITTAG

NEUBAU
12:30–13:00

Rendez-vous at noon: «Matisse, Derain and Friends. The Paris Avantgarde 1904–1908»

With research assistant Elena Degen. Cost: Admission

Sat 20 Jan

NEUBAU
14:00–15:00

Guided tour of the exhibition «Matisse, Derain and Friends. The Paris Avantgarde 1904–1908»

Cost: Admission + CHF 5

Sun 21 Jan


14:00–15:00

Visitée guidée en français. Coût: Entrée + CHF 5

En français. Coût: Entrée + CHF 5

Tue 23 Jan

RENDEZ-VOUS AM MITTAG

HAUPTBAU
12:30–13:00

Rendez-vous at noon: «Sophie Taeuber-Arps Moving Circle Picture (1934): Abstraction and Community»

With the assistant curator Noemi Scherrer

Costs: Admission

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