Charles Camoin

A French artist, a representative of Fauvism in painting. Known for his landscape works.

The father of Charles had a business of supplying varnishes and paints. After his death in 1885, the future artist and three other children were under the care of his uncle and lived alternately in Marseilles and Paris. He attended art classes at the School of Fine Arts in Marseilles.

Charles Camoin was one of those who in the 1890s studied at the studio of Gustave Moreau, was close friends with Henri Matisse, and later joined Fauvists. The artist kept in with such outstanding Impressionists as Claude Monet, Paul Cezanne and Auguste Renoir and participated in many art exhibitions, including the famous “Armory show” in the United States. In 1955, the President of France, René Coty, awarded Camoin for his contribution to French art. The artist lived a long and fruitful life, leaving behind a large number of remarkable landscapes and portraits, executed in a bright individual style.

Key Ideas:

– Charles Camoin was one of those young and talented artists who in the early twentieth century were in search of a new style and principles in painting. Like his associates from the Fauvist circle, he gave the greatest importance to his color and constantly worked on improving his own color palette. Having met like-minded people, such as Henri Matisse, Henri Manguin and Georges Rouault, he became one of Fauvists – the so-called “wild” artists who made revolution in painting at the Autumn Salon of 1905.

– Despite the similarity of the artistic style, the paintings of Camoin differ somewhat from the works of his comrades. First of all, by the artist’s color that is not much saturated and bright, as well as by increased attention to lighting. The choice of Camoin often stops on the themes of nature, ships and ports, as well as naked females in the interior, which was typical for other Fauvists.

– His work does not have a social orientation or internal conflicts. They depict a calm and measured life, recreation and entertainment, the beauty of nature.

– After 1915, the style of Camoin undergoes significant changes. He began to pay more attention to lighting in his paintings, as well as the interaction of light and different colors. At the same time, the palette of the artist remains as bright, rich and juicy as before. At the end of his life, Charles Camoin creates wonderful landscapes, filled with the sun, a sense of freshness and the purity of nature.