1890 -1930 · Free color and modern domestic space

In the modern interior, Fauves, Nabis and related colorists transform table, hanging, window and figure into autonomous relationships of color, pattern and rhythm.

At the turn of the 20th century, the domestic room became a decisive terrain for releasing color. The Nabis, notably Vuillard and Bonnard, had already flattened the depth, multiplied the patterns and melted the figures into wallpaper, fabrics and furniture. In 1905, Matisse and Derain radicalized in Collioure the use of arbitrary and intense tones which would give its name to Fauvism. Transported into the interior, this freedom no longer only serves to describe a wall, a tablecloth or a shadow: it directly constructs the space. Transported into the interior, this freedom no longer only serves to describe a wall, a tablecloth or a shadow: it directly constructs the space. Matisse's Red Workshop pushes this logic to the point of covering the room with a continuous chromatic field. Derain, Dufy, Vlaminck and other modernists also use still life, the table and the window like colored architecture. Outside of France, Francis Cadell adapts a decorative clarity similar to Scottish living rooms. This collection therefore broadens the view to parallel fireplaces where the bright color, the pattern and the simplification of the shape renew the domestic scene. The selection "Fauvist interiors and domestic scenes" notably compares Interior with pink hangings - Édouard Vuillard and Interior: the orange blind - Francis Cadell. Its reading favors light.

In the Fauvist interior, color does not cover the walls: it becomes the light, depth and emotion of the room.