Fauvists at the National Gallery of Art

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Fauvism, the National Gallery of Art (Washington) will be hosting a major exhibition of the works of this movement from December 12 2004 to May 30 2005.

It was indeed the year 1905 when the art critic Louis Vauxcelles coined the term “Fauves” in his description of the highly colourful works of a group of young artists at the Salon d’Automne in Paris. Inspired essentially by Henri Matisse, Derain, Vlaminck, Van Dongen, Braque, Marquet and Dufy, the movement lost momentum after 1907.
In terms of the auction prices of Fauvist works, despite an 18% increase over the last 10 years, the index is still 61% below its 1990 level. Indeed, the main price records for this movement were established at around that time.
The highest price ever paid for a Fauvist painting was GBP 6.5 million (USD 9.3 million) for Maurice de Vlaminck’s “La Seine à Chatou” (1906) at Christie’s London on June 2 2004. According to Artprice figures, while Maurice de Vlaminck paintings are clearly the market’s favourite among Fauvist works, his prices have been almost stable since 1993.

Artprice’s selection of the most expensive Fauvist works (painted between 1904 and 1907) at auction:

– Maurice DE VLAMINCK (1876-1958)GBP 6,500,000: La Seine à Chatou (1906)February 2, 2002 (Christie’s, London)- Kees VAN DONGEN (1877-1968)USD 5,300,000: Femme fatale (c.1905)November 3, 2004 (Christie’s, New-York)- Georges BRAQUE (1882-1963)USD 4,000,000: L’olivier près de l’Éstaque (1906)May 12, 1998 (Christie’s, New-York)- Henri MATISSE (1869-1954)GBP 2 000 000: Oliviers à Collioure (1905)June 26, 2001 (Sotheby’s, London)- Raoul DUFY (1877-1953)USD 2,800,000: Fête à Sainte-Adresse (1906)May 5, 2004 (Sotheby’s, New-York)- André DERAIN (1880-1954)USD 2,400,000: Barques au port de Collioure (c.1905)November 2, 1993 (Christie’s, New-York)