Bust of a Woman

Though probably best known for the richly-colored Fauvist paintings that he, together with Matisse and Vlaminck, were creating, Derain was growing increasingly disillusioned with this style that favored the use of bright, pure color. In 1905, he wrote to Vlaminck: "I don't see any future at all in our tendencies: on the one hand we try to disengage ourselves from the objective world, and on the other we keep it as the cause and the end." In this particular work, coming years after, the natural palette has returned along with a new sense of realism and an interest in the human form. The sitter's classical form – defined by line and muted colors – is both sculptural and transparent. It has at once the simplicity of a line drawing and the solidity of something molded or carved.