An art movement which developed in Paris in the early 1900s. It took its name from the word used by the critics—fauves, wild beasts—to define a group of artists who exhibited their works at the 1905 Salon d'Automne. By simplifying forms and using bold colours, they attempted to create highly balanced and serene works, a goal totally removed from the intention to cause outrage usually attributed to them. For many of its members Fauvism was an intermediary step in the development of their respective personal styles, as exemplified to perfection by the painter Henri Matisse (1869-1954).