Glossary: Fauvism

The Fauves or wild beasts were a group of late 19th century French painters who simplified the lines of paintings, introduced exaggerated perspective and arbitrary strong colours. Fauvism, as a movement, had no concrete theories, and was short lived (they only had three exhibitions). Matisse was seen as a leader of the movement. He said he wanted to create art to delight; art as a decoration was his purpose; therefore his use of bright colours tries to maintain serenity of composition