The style of les Fauves ('the wild beasts'), a loose group of early 20th-century Modern artists whose works emphasised painterly qualities and strong colour over the representational or realistic values retained by Impressionism. While Fauvism as a style began around 1900 and continued beyond 1910, the movement as such lasted only a few years, 1904–1908, and had 3 exhibitions.

The leaders of the movement were Henri Matisse and André Derain. Other significant artists included Maurice de Vlaminck, Raoul Dufy, Georges Rouault, Jean Metzinger (who developed the theoretical foundations of Cubism) and Georges Braque (who was later also more closely associated with Cubism).