<Les Deux Péniches>

Between 1906 and 1907, André Derain made several trips to London, where he observed the industrial activity along the Thames. In this work, two barges are seen from a bird’s-eye view atop bridge, while the boatmen at work are reduced to mere spots of colour. The off-center, almost “photographic” framing lends the composition a sense of immediacy and movement. The spontaneity of the colours and the freedom of the brushwork make this painting a quintessential example of Fauvism.