Henri Matisse burst onto the French art scene like a bombshell at the 1905 Salon d’Automne. Faced with paintings in vibrant colour, the public was scandalised. The 35-year-old Matisse and his colleagues were christened “les Fauves” – the wild beasts – and accused of being madmen and confidence tricksters. Although the show was an act of provocation, the violence of the response, and the relentless ridicule, was too much for most of the artists.
What’s actually going on? No one knows, or really cares. An unknown allegory is being enacted in the hills above the fishing village of Collioure, by three nude women who may have some connection with the classical, Mediterranean past. Like so many of Matisse’s works, the subject is not important but the manner of painting is electrifying.