The Tree

This piece is one of the most typical examples of Fauvist style. Exaggerated, bold, and imagined colours are placed close together to create a strange, colourful landscape very different to the colour-scheme we would expect from a rural landscape. Like the Impressionists and Pointillists before them, the Fauvists use individual brushstrokes to add detail to their pieces (see, for example, the ground around the trees, or their multicoloured leaves). The colours fade into the distance, recreating actual vision, so while the colours may be unrealistic, we can still picture this landscape as a real place existing in three dimensions. A sense of heat is given by the reds, oranges, and yellows of the work. The shadows in purple and blue make it easy to imagine their cool sanctuary from the sun.