#maurice de vlaminck

[oldsardens]

Maurice de Vlaminck - Paysage à Mériel

[germanpostwarmodern]

After 95(!) years and a solo exhibition at Alfred Flechtheim’s gallery in Düsseldorf Maurice de Vlaminck (1876-1958) finally receives a retrospective in Germany: with „Maurice de Vlaminck. Rebell der Moderne“ the Museum Barberini until January 12, 2025 presents a comprehensive overview of the painter’s oeuvre that comprises a total of 76 paintings.

The exhibition is accompanied by the present handsome catalogue published by Prestel that is warmly recommended to all those who can’t make it to Potsdam in time. Of course it contains all of the paintings included in the exhibition but also provides substantial information about de Vlaminck: in five essays experts and curators discuss the painter’s relationship with the Fauves as well as his Fauvist paintings, elucidate his reception of Vincent van Gogh’s art, his connection with Cézanne and Picasso and also shed light on Vlaminck’s use of pure colors straight from the tube.

What emerges from these essays is an artist as colorful as his paintings: a former bicycle racer, violinist, boxer and anarchist Vlaminck prided himself on never having attended an art academy and cultivated his image as a real „fauve“, a wild beast. The latter term dates back to the 1905 Salon d’Automne where Vlamincks paintings were exhibited alongside Henri Matisse’s, André Derain’s and Kees van Dongen’s: their powerful colors and focus on expression and emotion provoked the critic Louis Vauxcelles to call them „fauves“ and eventually made them examples also for the German expressionists. Vlaminck came to the use of pure color together with André Derain whom he met by chance in 1900 and with whom he explored the landscapes along the river Seine. Of course, and despite his own assertions, he was were well aware of the Impressionists/Neo-impressionists but transferred their motifs into the 20th century. Around 1908 Vlaminck gradually put behind Fauvism and began experimenting with cubist forms in a number of landscape paintings, portraits and seascapes, although in retrospect he dismissed Cubism. In parallel Cézanne became an important reference, especially in still lifes and landscapes. The latter also dominates Vlaminck’s late work, this time in the form of snowy forests and villages. To this day this late work has received only little attention, probably due to Vlaminck’s outspoken support of the Nazi art doctrines. The Potsdam exhibition and catalogue thus offer the rare chance to forge an opinion about these disputed works.

In view of the few German language publications on Vlaminck and the insightful essays as well as the countless illustrations the present catalogue is a highly recommended read and a great substitute for an exhibition visit!

[psikonauti]

Maurice de Vlaminck (French,1876-1958)

La Neige à Auvers (Snow in Auvers), circa 1924

Oil on canvas

[henk-heijmans]

House and road, ca. 1930 - by Maurice de Vlaminck (1876 – 1958), French

[the-cricket-chirps]

Maurice de Vlaminck

A road

[thunderstruck9]

Maurice de Vlaminck (French, 1876-1958), Vue de village [View of a Village], 1912. Oil on canvas, 54.1 x 65.2 cm.

[arinewman7]

Jetée de Fleurs

Maurice de Vlaminck

oil on canvas, ca. 1936-38

[terminusantequem]

Maurice de Vlaminck (French, 1876-1958), Vase de fleurs. Oil on canvas, 46 x 33.3 cm

[lemuseum]

[de-mykel]

Maurice de Vlaminck. Paysage, c. 1914.

oil on canvas

[artpictural]

Maurice de Vlaminck par Gjon Mili, 1949.

[oldsardens]

Maurice de Vlaminck - Le pont de Chatou

[frenchcurious]

Maurice de Vlaminck (1876-1958) Environs de Paris, c. 1925. - Christie's, London. - source Arte Moderna.

[psikonauti]

Maurice de Vlaminck (French,1876-1958)

Les deux vases de fleurs, 1960

Oil on canvas

[unjouruntableau]

Maurice de Vlaminck, Paysage, 1958.

[the-cricket-chirps]

Maurice de Vlaminck

Sunset in the Forest of Senoches