The Fauves. Nathalia Brodskaya

of wars, violence against nature and man. In the twentieth century, in art, too, more or less significant new systems began to appear one after another, beginning with Cubism, Futurism, and Surrealism, systems less enduring but not in the slightest less strict and tyrannical than Classicism. The very fact of their presence, the formation of definite groupings around them naturally evoked reaction. In each generation there are young artists who tend towards intuitive, spontaneous, and sincere self-expression. It is a characteristic of many of them that they strive to link themselves with the Fauvist tradition – there are even echoes in the names they give themselves, be it the “Neue Wilden” in Germany or some groups that appeared in Paris, St Petersburg, or Moscow.

      For us, the Impressionists, Van Gogh, and Cézanne are almost as distant as Rembrandt and Rubens. They have entirely withdrawn to the museums, but Matisse, Vlaminck, Dufy, Van Dongen, Rouault, and Manguin belong to the twentieth century. Vlaminck said:

      I bequeath to young painters all the flowers of the fields, the banks of the streams, the clouds black and white which float above plains, rivers, forests, and great trees… These blessings, these inestimable blessings which with every season are reborn, blossom, tremble… should we not on occasion recall that they are our inestimable heritage, the inspiration for masterpieces? Have you admired it enough? Have you tasted fully the emotion of the breaking dawn or the day that will never be seen again, so as to capture on your canvas a feeling profound and eternal?[28]

      This sounds like the testament of the Fauves and of all those whose legacy they absorbed.

      Henri Matisse 1869–1954

      Henri Matisse, Still Life with a Seashell on Black Marble, 1940.

      Oil on canvas, 54 × 81 cm.

      Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow.

      Henri Matisse. Photograph.

      “Fauvism is when there is a red,”[29] said Henri Matisse concisely putting into words the most straightforward notion held of Fauvism. Matisse has in fact become Fauvism’s leader over the years as a result of his contemporaries and researchers persistently perpetuating such an idea. Consequently, Matisse’s work has been scoured through in a search for the ultimate Fauvist painting. Matisse never pretended or aspired to such a role, and on the question of what Fauvism represents in theory and in practice, he never came to a final conclusion. With the other Fauvists it can be argued that their art was dominated by either reason or emotion. Matisse’s intellect, however, continuously searched for a direction where both reason and emotion became reconciled so balance and order might be found.