Most students would likely agree that assignments are more engaging when opportunities arise to inject creativity into them. And when our final assignment gave us a choice to create a “21st Century” Art Gallery, I saw the opportunity to have some fun with the project.

Initially I thought that the gallery in today’s world should be web-based. I began by digitally creating the room and later adding paintings for each artist. The art gallery, incidentally, is named after my business MOD Media [“MOD,” by the way, is not supposed to stand for “modern”]. I envisioned the gallery having a few rooms, each exhibiting works from different movements, genres and artists. The room you are about to enter is the Fauvist exhibit.

This digital gallery is disproportionate from reality; in many cases the original paintings are larger and would require more space. The fact is that I wanted the exhibit to fit on one page on a web browser. I also wanted to create the illusion of an intimate environment in the exhibit rooms. Consequently, I kept paintings for each artist close together, and incorporated several pop-ups within the page to enable visitors to view the pieces separately and learn more about them.

Personally, I am partial to realistic and traditional art. I prefer to be passionate about art that immediately moves me without requiring research or knowledge of history to understand its value. Although, if I were to learn after being attracted to a particular work that it is enriched with social commentary about a certain era, well, that’s great, too.

With that said, I wanted to research a movement that was less familiar to me. Fauvism fit the bill. The Fauvist Period lasted a very short time, and is often viewed as a precursor to other art movements. During the Fauvist Period, artists seem to be flying in the face of tradition, and I love that. Paul Gauguin expressed this rebellion perfectly:

"How do you see these trees? They are yellow. So, put in yellow; this shadow, rather blue, paint it with pure ultramarine; these red leaves? Put in vermilion."

The artists were expressing themselves and liberating color from traditional realistic rules of painting. Some critics may say that these pieces look unfinished, that they don't embody the discipline of classic traditional art–In fact, it is how the artists in this movement got their name. However, it is a more free approach to art and, because of this, I have come to really appreciate this genre.

Of course there were more Fauvist artists than those represented here. I covered three major artists of the Fauvist Period and, among them, a woman who is considered an American Fauvist. Once I chose the artist, I also added a few pieces that weren’t exclusively Fauvist.

Enjoy!