Accession Code: wu0361w Title: La Route Date completed: Medium: Prints Material: Colour Lithograph Height (mm): 360 Width (mm): 465 Depth (mm): n/a Inscription: Inscribed: "Vlaminck" lower left. Signed lower right. Numbered 177/200 Location Name: Senate House Location Description: Wellbeing Support Services Location Floor: 0

© ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2021
 
This lithograph of a rural scene is at odds with most of the work by Maurice Vlaminck that is discussed in the literature about his work.

A self-taught contemporary of Matisse and Van Gogh, he is identified as one of the Fauves, artists who used blazing non-naturalistic colour and broken brushstrokes to render landscapes and figures. One of the first collectors of African art, Vlaminck derided academic training and claimed that he had never set foot in the Louvre.

This appears to be quite a traditional landscape and was probably made towards the end of Vlaminck's life. Here the artist uses a restricted range of naturalistic colours to suggest a quiet and empty space, very different to the hectic and energetic paintings of his youth.