Maurice de Vlaminck

1876 - 1958
France

Maurice de Vlaminck was born in the heart of Paris, near Les Halles. His parents were both musicians of talent, although neither of them was well-known. Vlaminck began to draw while in elementary school and neglected his studies for his sketches. However, as he grew up he showed talent as a violinist and as a champion bicycle rider, so that he did not decide to become a painter until 1900 when he met Derain.

The sight of Van Gogh's paintings further stimulated Vlaminck, and he began to paint as a Fauve, without any academic studies. Vlaminck was a giant of a man with tremendous energy and as a young man he painted furiously in a brilliant orange, red, and blue palette, writing novels and articles between paintings.

In about 1909, Vlaminck experimented with Cubist constructions in his landscapes and still lifes and showed a preference in his palette for the pure whites and keep blues that are often found in his later works. After 1915, Vlaminck's palette became cooler and at the same time more dramatic in intensity as he began to paint strong, vital, stormy landscapes, overcast skies, lonely villages, and more earthy, humanitarian still lifes in a more solid but still turbulent style.

He remained resolutely apart from all trends of contemporary art after his brief adventure into Cubism and found in his return to nature a realistic outlet for his early Fauve passion. In 1935, he retired to a large farm, La TourilliËre, near Beauce. Here he occupied himself with agriculture, as had his Flemish ancestors, and continued to paint deeply felt still lifes and sensitive landscapes that show an almost religious love of nature, the land, and its products.