
Albert Marquet (1875–1947) was the quiet master among the Fauves. Born in Bordeaux, he moved to Paris as a teenager to attend the École des Arts Décoratifs, where he met Henri Matisse. The two became lifelong friends. He studied under Gustave Moreau at the École des Beaux-Arts alongside Georges Rouault, absorbing the symbolist master's color sense.
Marquet and Matisse were painting in pure colors as early as 1898, before Fauvism had a name. At the infamous 1905 Salon d'Automne, his work hung alongside Matisse, Derain, and Vlaminck, earning them all the label "Fauves" (wild beasts). Yet Marquet always differed from his friends. While they used violent, intense colors, he preferred grayed yellows, grayed violets, and subtle blues. Black served as a sharp contrast to light rather than being banished from the palette.
After 1907, Marquet alternated between his Paris studio and travels to European coasts and North Africa. Venice and Naples particularly impressed him, with their play of light over water. He painted harbors, rivers, and coastal scenes with a serene naturalism quite different from Fauve intensity. Fleeing the German invasion in 1939, he took refuge in Algeria until war's end. He died suddenly in 1947 from a gall bladder attack and undiagnosed cancer. His work is held at the Musée d'Orsay, the Hermitage, and the Museum of Modern Art.
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