The painting that helped lead to the name of the Fauvism movement, Woman with a Hat, was painted by Henri Matisse in 1905. That same year, it was exhibited at the Salon d’Automne in Paris. It depicts the head and upper body of a woman wearing a hat. However, the coloring is not authentic to the motive, but rather liberally applied.
At the exhibition, it hung in a room that also contained a number of similar paintings, along with one classic statue. Upon seeing this, Critic Loius Vauxcelles went on to write that this was “Donatello among the Wild beasts”, with wild beast being called fauvres in French. The Fauvism movement took its name from this.
Paintings like Woman with a Hat were initially widely criticized. Among other, it was noted that it looked like the artist has just flung a few pots of paint at the canvas. This liberal application of saturated colors, the heavy brush work and the expressive use of both were in fact key characteristics of the Fauvism movement. It was also expressive in nature, which has led to some association with the greater trend of expressionism.
Woman with a Hat was bought by Sarah Stein, the sister-in-law of Gertrude Stein, at the Salon d’Automne in Paris in 1905. She displayed in prominently in her home in California for many years before selling it to her friend Elise Haas who went to donate it to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Arts. It is still on display there today, as one of the most iconic works of Fauvism.
