Haute Folie

Vlaminck was born in Paris of ‘bohemian’ musical parents in 1876 and he in turn became an accomplished musician. It was only in 1900 when he met the painter André Derain that he started to take art seriously. Vlaminck’s typical subject matter became rural landscapes, often with overcast skies or storm scenes, lonely village streets or cottages and still-lifes.

Vlaminck was much influenced by the Post-Impressionists, particularly by a Van Gogh exhibition he saw in Paris in 1901. Four years later he exhibited at the Salon d’Automne with a group of artists including Derain, Matisse, Rouault and Marquet, who were collectively dubbed the Cage aux Fauves (Cage of Wild Beasts) because of their use of strong colour applied in an expressionistic way.