Mountains at Collioure
1905
Andre Derain
Derain's paintings are designed to make an impact. His generation of painters had grown frustrated by the legacy of the Impressionist and wanted to put the painter back into painting (as they saw it). If the Impressionist had said through their work "This is what the eye really sees", Derain and his peers said, "This is what we as artists see".
Their focus was colour.
They never abandoned representation completely - you can easily see that this painting depicts olive trees with mountains in the background - but the star of the show is colour.
Here he has set about showing the blues and greens and yellow of olive leaves, the purple of mountains. Even if this kind of scenery isn't our favourite, we can still see how vibrant he has made it. And if we have ever had the chance to be in Languedoc, we know that he got those colours just right.
I find this painting beautiful.
Their earliest critics didn't agree. (In)famously, one critic described these artists as fauves (wild animals) and the name fauvistes stuck.
Perhaps it shows that if we hang on to our assumptions and prejudices, we will struggle to see beauty.
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