Fauvism
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 An artistic movement of the first decade of the 20th century which emphasized spontaneity and the use of extremely bright colors. uncountable
"Paris had been the birthplace of the Modernist sensibility during the latter half of the previous century, when its cafés, studios and tolerant atmosphere helped nurture the symbolist school in poetry and impressionism in painting. By the start of the First World War, it had sheltered fauvism, cubism, expressionism, vorticism, and a host of other splinter movements through which the emerging culture gradually took shape."
- 2 an art movement launched in 1905 whose work was characterized by bright and nonnatural colors and simple forms; influenced the expressionists wordnet
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"Paris had been the birthplace of the Modernist sensibility during the latter half of the previous century, when its cafés, studios and tolerant atmosphere helped nurture the symbolist school in poetry and impressionism in painting. By the start of the First World War, it had sheltered fauvism, cubism, expressionism, vorticism, and a host of other splinter movements through which the emerging culture gradually took shape."
Etymology
From French fauvisme, attributed to French art critic Louis Vauxcelles.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.