Derain ‘The Dance’ 1906

Painted the same year Matisse completes Joy of Life

Three figures dance across the foreground of the painting. The setting appears to be an
arcadian, perhaps jungle landscape. A nude seated figure in the background reminds us
of the figures in Matisse’s Luxe, Calme et Volupte and Joy of Life.

A brightly plumed bird and a writhing serpent may be inspired by Paul Gauguin’s
Tahitian paintings. A retrospective of Gauguin’s work was held in 1906.

Recent theories suggest that the right hand female was inspired by the black maid in
Delacroix's Women of Algiers. The inclusion of the serpent may reference the Garden
of Eden however in primitive societies snakes were seen as fertility symbols,
representing good and evil, rebirth, wisdom and various other qualities both positive
and negative
These figures may be engaged in a fertility dance.
The faces of the figures are possibly based on the Fang
masks Derain had in his studio at that time (The Fang tribe
are a group of people spread across the centre of Africa
along the equator) The work is presumed to have been
painted after his return from London
The striped figure on the left may have been based on tribal dancers who wore body paint and
also on primitive painted figures from 4,000BC

These stripes may represent tattoos, body paint or are a naive interpretation of folds and creases
in fabric
Recent research claims that the forms of the figures may have furthermore been based on
Romanesque religious sculptures. Derain and Vlaminck would cycle in the countryside of France
looking for Romanesque churches so they could sketch the sculptures.
Another key influence were the themes in the work of the naïve painter Henri Rousseau. Rousseau, an
untrained artist working since the late 1800s in Paris, had achieved popularity and fame amongst avant-
garde artists, at the beginning of the Twentieth century with his childlike depictions of wild animals and
jungle scenes.

His work was actually shown at the 1905 Salon des Indépendants in the same room as Matisse, giving rise to
the name Fauves (Wild Beasts). Despite not belonging to any particular school or style of painting he was
greatly admired by Picasso and other Modernists.
Nude dancing figures were a popular
theme in Fauvist paintings during this
period. These artists were
all inspired by a shared interest in the
primitive artefacts they saw in the
Trocadero in Paris and objects they
bought and kept in their studios.

After seeing the Gauguin retrospective in

1906 Derain trained himself in
woodcarving. He produced two wooden
panels featuring nude dancing figures.
There were inspired by Gauguin’s
wooden sculptures.
Link the formal features to the theme of
primitivism:

• Colour
• Composition
• Figure handling
• Line
• Light/Shadow
• Space/Depth
• Technique

Why is there no evidence of Pointillism or

Divisionism in this painting?

These painting techniques would have reminded the viewer of Western developments in art, Derain was hoping
to create an image free of any associations with Western art. Matisse had also stopped using the divisionist
technique by this stage. Divisionist or Pointillist techniques are based on colour theory and optical science-
something that ‘primitive’ cultures would presumably be unaware of.
 ‘Primitivism’
• Artists in the beginning of the 20th century began to lose faith in traditional art of the past and wanted to
search for something new, raw and fundamentally expressive. Thus they looked to art of the primitives,
such as African and Polynesian art; these art forms were often primal and innovative. From 1906 onwards
artists like Matisse, Picasso, Derain and Braque, began buying African tribal masks and figurines. As a
result, the influence of "Negro art" on both painting and sculpture became quite noticeable in Paris after
1907, and in Berlin, Dresden and London after 1912. Artists most influenced by primitivism include
German Expressionist such as Emil Nolde, the Fauvist, Henri Matisse, the British sculptor, Jacob Epstein,
and Pablo Picasso among many others. Although painters were the first to take an interest in primitivism,
its greatest impact was on sculpture. The Fauvist painter Andre Derain even taught himself to carve
limestone in order to produce primitive-style works. These artists aspired to create works which absorbed
the motifs and characteristics of the primitive objects which inspired them. In their work paint could be
applied loosely and crudely, perspective was ignored, compositions were naive or unconventional, colour
and lines could be harsh and aggressive. The overall effect of the works they produced aimed to suggest to
the viewer art which was free of the conventions of Western traditions.
• Actual use of Primitive artefacts varies widely, in many cases, it is the spur for a radical rethinking of the
canon of Western art, for challenging the assumption (in both artists and viewers) that beauty, perfection
and fine detail are the hallmarks of great art. It simultaneously provides a raft of new suggestions for raw
power and ironically, a way of defining the spirit of the modern age.