Style Imitating Art | The Turning Road, L’Estaque by André Derain

“The joy of dressing is an art.”

-John Galliano

About Style Imitating Art

Style Imitating Art is hosted by Salazar of 14 Shades of Grey, Shelbee of Shelbee on the Edge, and Marsha of Marsha in the Middle. Style Imitating Art challenges us to draw style inspiration from pieces of art. Every other Monday, one of the hosts, acting as presenter, selects an inspiration image that they will each post on their blogs. The following Monday, each host shares her art inspired outfit. Participants are invited to submit their art inspired outfits to the presenter by 10:00 p.m. EST on the Tuesday following the hosts’ art inspired outfit posts. The following day, Wednesday, the presenter will share all of the submissions on her blog.

You don’t have to be a blogger to join either! In fact, you don’t even have to join but you can still use the art to inspire an outfit just for the sake of trying something different. If you want to share your inspired outfit, we invite you do so on Instagram or any other social media platform that you prefer. Just be sure to tag Salazar, Shelbee, or Marsha or use #TeamLOTSStyle and #StyleImitatingArt so the hosts know you have joined. Go have some fun in your closets and join the SIA challenge next week!

This Week’s Presenter

Marsha chose this week’s inspiration art because it was created by a Fauvist painter and she would like to learn more about the Fauvism movement that began in France in the early 20th century. I always approach these art posts as learning opportunities so this was a wonderful choice for Marsha’s purpose. 

The Artwork

The Turning Road, L’Estaque by André Derain

About the Artist: André Derain

André Derain was born on June 10, 1880, just outside of Paris in Chatou, Yvelines, Île-de-France, to a middle class family. His father was a pastry chef as well as a municipal counselor. In 1895, at the age of 15, André began to study art on his own while attending Saint-Croix in Le Vesinet for his traditional academic studies. He later attended the Lycee Chaptal in Paris before beginning engineering studies at the École des Mines, also in Paris. He eventually left this formal academic setting in 1898, calling his formative education “a miserable experience.” In spite of his great disinterest in school, the young Derain excelled at drawing, winning an award for this skill in 1895.

In 1900, Derain met fellow French painter, Maurice de Vlaminck, and the two began sharing a studio where they would paint neighborhood scenes together. However, their painting community was paused from 1901-1904 while Derain served in the military. Following his discharge from military service, French artist Henri Matisse persuaded Derain’s parents to allow him to abandon his engineering studies in favor of becoming a painter instead. Once this decision was made, Derain enrolled in the Académie Julian.

During the summer of 1905, Derain and Matisse worked together in the Mediterranean village of Collioure, displaying their highly innovative paintings at the Salon d’Automne later that same year. The vivid, unnatural colors these artists were using led to art critic Louis Vauxcelles derisively dubbing their work “les Fauves”, which translates as “the wild beasts”, thereby marking the beginning of the Fauvist art movement.

The Fauvism movement led by André Derain and Henri Matisse included a group of modern artists who emphasized strong unnatural colors and unrealistic qualities over the representational or realistic values retained by the Impressionist painters. While the movement itself was short-lived, lasting from 1905 through 1908, and only had three exhibitions, the style of art continued long beyond the end of the movement.

In March 1906, Derain was commissioned by art dealer Ambroise Vollard to produce a series of 30 paintings depicting the city of London, England. These paintings illustrated London in a radically different and boldly colorful way compared to any previous painters of the city. The following year, art dealer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler purchased Derain’s entire studio, granting him the financial stability which allowed him to move to Montmartre to be near his artist friends including Pablo Picasso. During his time at Montmartre, Derain began shifting away from the vibrant color palette of Fauvism to a more muted palette that showed the influences of Post-Impressionism and Cubism.

While living in Montmartre, Derain married Alice Prense, who was described as laid back, beautiful, and having a virginal personality that directly contrasted with her husband’s more phlegmatic and argumentative personality. Derain and his wife maintained a shared residence in Chambourcy but he continued to paint in his Paris studio where he frequently entertained various mistresses, one of whom gave birth to Derain’s first son. Eventually, Derain and his wife officially adopted this first born child but after a second illegitimate son was born, Alice left her husband and attempted to seize control of the family finances.

From 1911-1914, Derain reduced the amount of color in his works, his forms became more austere, and his art began showing influences of the Old Masters. This era has become known as his gothic period. As the First World War began, Derain was stabilized for military service in 1914, serving until his release in 1919. During his service there was little time for producing art, however, he did create a set of illustrations for André Breton’s first book, Mont de Piete, in 1916.

Following the war and leaving Fauvism in his past, Derain became a leader of the renewed classicism movement while being admired as an “upholder of tradition.” The 1920s saw the height of his success. He won the Carnegie Prize in 1928 and began extensively exhibiting his work around the world.

During the German occupation of France in World War II, Derain resided primarily in Paris. He was courted by the Germans as the representation of prestigious French culture and accepted an invitation to visit a Nazi exhibition of their officially endorsed artist, Arno Breker, in Germany in 1941. Derain’s presence at this exhibition led to him being branded as a Nazi collaborator, earning criticism from many of his former supporters.

In 1953, Derain suffered from an eye infection that dramatically impaired his vision. Although he did recover from this illness, he was hit by a truck shortly thereafter which caused his death on September 8, 1954. He was 74 years old.

About the Art: The Turning Road, L’Estaque

The Turning Road, L’Estaque is a 1906 oil on canvas created during Derain’s Fauvist period. The large canvas, which depicts the French village of L’Estaque, measures 51 × 76 3/4 in. (129.5 × 194.9 cm) with the frame measuring 58 1/4 × 84 9/16 in. (148 × 214.8 cm). It is wildly acknowledged as André Derain’s masterwork and one of the great paintings of the Modernist movement.

In the typical Fauvist style using lively unrealistic colors, the canvas glows with flame colored trees as the bright yellow sunlight casts a gorgeous vibrance over this monumental landscape. Human figures rendered in rudimentary form decorate the scene showcasing the artist’s freedom from real world constraints, making the painting as bold and audacious as it is brilliant and groundbreaking.

Through a long and confusing provenance, The Turning Road, L’Estaque was eventually shipped from the Galerie Philippe Reichenbach in Paris to Mr. John A. Beck in Houston on April 24, 1968. The painting remains on permanent display in the Beck Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

Helpful Links:

• Wikipedia: André Derain
• The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston: The Turning Road, L’Estaque
• Creative Spark: André Derain: The Turning Road, L’Estaque
• The Art Story: André Derain

About My Outfit

My outfit for this art challenge was sort of serendipitous. While I had not previously worn this outfit, I did plan on wearing this dress and sweater combination when I recently purchased the two pieces together. Despite the dress being a summer dress, I was able to winterize it with the colorfully striped wool blend cardigan sweater.

I almost didn’t purchase this watercolored sundress because the colors and print didn’t really appeal to me. But I have the same dress in solid dark purple and it is so stinking comfortable that I figured I would make this brighter one work for me somehow. Apparently, this color and print weren’t very appealing to many people because there were tons of them left on highly reduced clearance and it was the price point that made me cave.

I had grabbed the cardigan sweater to try on as well because I was very drawn to the cheerful vibrant stripes. Much to my surprise, I discovered how perfectly well it coordinated with the sundress once I was in the fitting room. I couldn’t get over how cute the combination was so I bought both pieces fully expecting to not wear them together until the spring.

But then Marsha introduced us to this very colorful work of Fauvism which gave me the opportunity to wear this outfit combination long before the arrival of spring. And why not wear bright, cheerful colors during the coldest and grayest of all the seasons? It is the best way to liven things right up in crummy weather.

The watercolor print on the dress reminds me of the wavy tree trunks in the painting and the color palette of both sweater and dress are pretty spot on for the vibrant paints used on the landscape. While the dress and cardigan combination are bold enough to stand alone, I am a girl who loves and appreciates the magic of accessories. And so I started piling them on, adding an ivory macrame belt, a colorful thrift store scarf, flea market earrings, my wooden owl necklace, a mushroom necklace, my mint green Panama hat, fluorescent yellow gloves, and my recently thrifted blue leather oxfords.

I had originally planned on wearing my white cowgirl boots, but then I scored these amazing secondhand shoes last week in the men’s department of a local thrift store. The color was perfect for representing the dark blues in the tree trunks of the painting and I really like the way oxfords look with long skirts or dresses.

As much as I adore these blue oxfords, I had a bit of a mishap with them while taking photographs. As we finished and were walking back to the car, the right shoe felt like it was sort of sticking to the ground. Each step felt stickier than the last until I was convinced there was a giant slug stuck to the bottom of my foot. The thought immediately freaked me out so I violently kicked my foot into the air to try to release whatever sticky thing was stuck to my foot.

As the sole of the shoe came loose and went flying through the air, I realized the only sticky thing stuck to my shoe was not quite sticky enough as the adhesive that kept sole and shoe together dried up and gave out. As I stood there wearing one blue oxford and one blue sole-less ballet shoe, my husband and I burst into fits of laughter.

But that wasn’t the end of it. When we got back home and I was getting out of the car, the left sole also gave way and completely detached from the shoe. Now I have two really cool but sole-less blue oxfords! I am debating on whether to reglue the old chunky masculine soles or try to find a shoe expert who might be able to resole them with a daintier, more feminine sole. Any ideas on that topic would be greatly appreciated!

In the meantime, if I want to wear this cheerful outfit again, I suppose I will have to rely on my trusty old white cowgirl boots as I had originally intended. Either way, I really loved how this look came together and I really appreciated another opportunity to wear a summer dress during the cold season!

I hope you all enjoyed this round of Style Imitating Art. Be sure to check out how Marsha and Salazar have styled their outfits inspired by this painting. If you want to play along and create your own art inspired outfit, please submit your photos to Marsha (mlrbanks57@gmail.com) by 10:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday, November 18, 2025, and she will feature your outfit in her style gallery on Wednesday, November 19, 2025.

Until then, happy styling! 

Keeping it on the edge, 

Shelbee