André Derain, ‘Madame Matisse in a Kimono’, from the National Gallery’s ‘After Impressionism’ exhibition in 2023.
Derain spent the summer of 1905 in the small fishing village of Collioure on the Mediterranean together with Matisse and his family. This portrait of Matisse’s wife Amélie depicts her in a patterned Japanese kimono. Around her, the sunlight becomes an intense red and the shadows vivid greens and blues, illustrating the two artists’ pursuit of the application of deliberately exaggerated colour. The bold works resulting from the artists’ time together were shown later that year at the Salon d’Automne.
Derain is one of the less well-known of the Post-impressionists, though I particularly like his paintings (and I particularly like Collioure). I wonder if his relegation to the second rank derives from the extraordinary fluency and ease with which he painted? Matisse, who is much more highly regarded, lacked that fluency. Perhaps there’s always some suspicion of such artists, who can become glib if they’re not careful. Others I’d include in this class are Joaquín Sorolla, Augustus John, Salvador Dalì and John Singer Sargeant.
MARSHALL COLMAN 