Topic Page: Derain, André, 1880-1954
French painter. He experimented with the strong, almost primary colours associated with fauvism but later developed a more sombre landscape and figurative style. Pool of London (1906; Tate Gallery, London) is a typical work. He also produced costumes and scenery for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes.
He studied art at the Académie Carrière, where he met Matisse, working with him and Vlaminck, his close friend, at Collioure and contributing to the ‘Fauve’ exhibition of 1905. His paintings of the Thames, 1905–06, brilliant in fauvish reds and blues, are a notable product of this period. From 1908, however, he was attracted towards cubism, though he was never a thoroughgoing revolutionary, solid construction in figure, landscape and still life being his aim. Subsequently, various changes in style seemed to lead back to tradition, though at no time did his work lack quality. He produced many stage designs as well as paintings, from the sets for Diaghilev's La Boutique fantasque, 1919, to those for Rossini's Le Barbier de Seville, 1953.
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Derain, André
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