Fauvism is an art movement that emerged in the early 20th century and was characterized by its bold colors, textured brushwork, and non-naturalistic forms. The term "Fauvism" comes from the French word "les Fauves," which means "the wild beasts". The movement was pioneered by artists such as Henri Matisse and André Derain, and it lasted only a few years, from 1905 to 1908.

Fauvism emphasized painterly qualities and strong color over the representational or realistic values retained by Impressionism. The paintings of the Fauves were characterized by seemingly wild brushwork and strident colors, while their subject matter had a high degree of simplification and abstraction. Fauvism can be classified as an extreme development of Van Goghs Post-Impressionism fused with the pointillism of Seurat and other Neo-Impressionist painters, in particular Paul Signac.

The Fauves painted directly from nature, as the Impressionists had before them, but Fauvist works were invested with a strong expressive reaction to the subjects portrayed. The Fauvists enhanced the colors and tones of the natural world, while closely observing scientific color theories that had been developed in the previous century. The genre’s followers adopted an expressive emotionalism that emphasized the artist’s inner feelings and ideas with the intricate arrangement of cold and warm colors and the creation of decorative compositions.

Fauvism is not technically a movement, as there were no written guidelines or manifestos, no membership entries, and no exclusive group exhibitions, but is rather a periodization. Fauvism continues to be regarded as an important period in art history and had a profound influence on many other expressionist movements, including the contemporary Die Brücke and the later Blaue Reiter, and Abstract Expressionism in America.