Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse was a French artist known for vivid color, simplified forms, Fauvist painting, and the gouache-painted paper cut-outs of his later career.
Painter
André Derain
André Derain was a French Fauvist painter known for vivid coastal and London scenes, bold contrasts of color, and later experiments with classical forms.
André Derain quick facts
Derain painted with Matisse in Collioure in 1905, making intensely colored coastal scenes before moving toward more restrained styles later.
| Full name | André Derain |
|---|---|
| Born | 1880 · Chatou, France |
| Died | 1954 · Garches, France |
| Nationality | French |
| Movements | Fauvism; later experiments with Cubism and classical figuration |
| Paint types | Oil Paint · Watercolor Paint · Gouache Paint |
| Other media | Book illustration, sculpture, and theater design |
| Other materials | — |
| Painting surfaces | Canvas · Paper |
| Painting methods | Applied broken oil brushstrokes in Fauvist work; later used watercolor and gouache over charcoal or graphite drawings |
| Common subjects | Mediterranean harbors, London streets and bridges, landscapes, portraits, and still lifes |
| Notable works | Fishing Boats, Collioure · Regent Street, London · The Artist in his Studio · The Black Feather Boa |
Sources: The Met: Fishing Boats, Collioure, The Met: Regent Street, London, The Met: The Artist in his Studio, The Met: The Black Feather Boa, The Met: The Hillocks.
Paint types used by André Derain
Derain used vivid oil paint in Fauvist scenes and later made watercolor and gouache works on paper, sometimes alongside charcoal or graphite.
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Oil paint
Derain’s Fishing Boats, Collioure (1905) and Regent Street, London (1906) are oil on canvas. Their intense color and assertive brushwork document his early Fauvist painting, while the later oil portrait The Black Feather Boa (1935) has a more subdued palette. Together the works show a medium used across changing subjects and styles.
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Watercolor paint
In The Hillocks (1921), Derain used watercolor with graphite on paper to describe a landscape through washes and drawn marks. The Met also records watercolor in The Artist in his Studio, combined there with gouache over charcoal. These works document watercolor within his later works on paper, separate from his oil canvases.
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Gouache paint
The Met catalogs The Artist in his Studio (1920) as gouache and watercolor over charcoal on paper. Gouache supplies an opaque water-based component in a layered sheet that also includes drawing; it is distinct from Derain’s oil-on-canvas paintings of Collioure and London. The record names both paints, so this entry preserves that combination.
Sources: The Met: Fishing Boats, Collioure, oil on canvas, The Met: Regent Street, London, The Met: The Black Feather Boa, The Met: watercolor and graphite in The Hillocks, and The Met: gouache and watercolor in The Artist in his Studio.
Painting surfaces used by André Derain
Derain painted in oil on canvas and used watercolor and gouache on paper; the examples below connect those supports to Fauvist and later work.
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Canvas
Museum records identify Derain’s Fauvist views Fishing Boats, Collioure and Regent Street, London as oil on canvas; his later portrait The Black Feather Boa uses the same support. The canvases document his use of oil for both landscape and portrait subjects across different phases of his career.
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Paper
Derain made painted works on paper as well as drawings. The Met records watercolor with graphite in The Hillocks and watercolor, gouache, and charcoal in The Artist in his Studio. These examples show the sheet supporting both painted passages and drawing, in contrast to the oil-on-canvas paintings.
Sources: The Met: Fishing Boats, Collioure, The Met: Regent Street, London, The Met: The Artist in his Studio, The Met: The Black Feather Boa, The Met: The Hillocks.
Painters similar to André Derain
Matisse worked alongside Derain during the Fauvist years, while Braque also tested vivid color before developing his later Cubist paintings and prints.
Georges Braque
Georges Braque was a French painter who helped develop Cubism, combining fragmented still lifes with textured oil paint, stenciling, and paper collage.