Matisse, Derain and Friends
The Paris Avantgarde 1904–1908
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
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
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
Online ticket
Buy your online ticket now.
Audioguide
The audio guide to the exhibition is available for CHF 6. The museum provides audio guide listening devices. The audio guide is available in German, English and French.
Belle Époque – Three Chamber Music Evenings
As part of the exhibition «Matisse, Derain and Friends», musicians from the Basel Symphony Orchestra will perform three chamber concerts at Kunstmuseum Basel, Neubau. Get your tickets for the concerts on November 24 and December 8.
Catalogue
The catalogue of the exhibition with texts by Elena Degen, Arthur Fink, Claudine Grammont, Josef Helfenstein, Gabrielle Houbre, Béatrice Joyeux-Prunel, Peter Kropmanns, Maureen Murphy and Pascal Rousseau.
The exhibition is supported by:
- Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne
- Bundesamt für Kultur (BAK)
- Credit Suisse (Schweiz) AG
- Isaac Dreyfus-Bernheim Stiftung
- Karin Endress
- Simone & Peter Forcart-Staehelin
- Rita & Christoph Gloor
- Dr. Urs Gloor & Hardy Happle
- Dorette Gloor-Krayer
- Annetta Grisard-Schrafl
- HEIVISCH
- Stiftung für das Kunstmuseum Basel
- Trafina Privatbank AG
- und anonyme Gönnerinnen und Gönner
Media partner:
- bz - Zeitung für die Region Basel
Events for this exhibition
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
NEUBAU
14:00–15:00
Guided tour of the exhibition «Matisse, Derain and Friends. The Paris Avantgarde 1904–1908»
Cost: Admission + CHF 5
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
NEUBAU
14:00–15:00
Guided tour of the exhibition «Matisse, Derain and Friends. The Paris Avantgarde 1904–1908»
Cost: Admission + CHF 5
14:00–15:00
Visitée guidée en français. Coût: Entrée + CHF 5
En français. Coût: Entrée + CHF 5
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
