André Derain — Profile, Rankings & Fame Trend

Summary

Updated 2026-06-11

He co-founded Fauvism with Matisse, painting landscapes in colours so wild they scandalized Paris, then walked away from his own revolution to chase Cézanne and the old masters instead.

Biography

About

André Derain was born 17 June 1880 in France. Between 1905 and 1906, he and Henri Matisse launched Fauvism, filling canvases with riotous, unnatural colour that rattled the establishment. By 1910 he'd reversed course, studying Cézanne and classical painting until his work turned austere and disciplined. After the First World War he became a leader of the Return to Order, the broad swing back toward tradition and structure in the arts. He died 8 September 1954, having spent half a lifetime undoing the wildness that made his name.

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from André Derain

André Derain

saidMay 1910

What, after all, is a pretty woman? It's a mere subjective impression – what you yourself think of her. That's what I paint, another kind of beauty of my own.

— p. 406

André Derain

saidMay 1910

If I paint a girl in the sunlight, it's the sunlight I am painting, not the real girl; and even for that I should have the sunlight on my palette.

— p. 407

André Derain

saidMay 1910

The Japanese see things that way. They don't paint sunlight, they don't cast shadows that perplex one and falsify the true shape of things.

— p. 407

André Derain

saidMay 1910

These Africans being primitive, uncomplex, uncultured, can express their thought by a direct appeal to the instinct. Their carvings are informed with emotions.

— p. 407

André Derain

said23 Aug 1909