Painted with remarkable spontaneity and dynamism, Vlaminck’s portrait of a reclining nude is one of his most visually arresting figurative compositions. One of a small number of nudes from the artist’s oeuvre, Nu couché represents an exceptionally rare moment in Vlaminck’s production. During the Fauve years, Vlaminck had remained mostly in and around Chatou, but made periodic visits to Paris to remain connected to the avant-garde scene. Nu couché depicts a dancer from Le Rat mort—one of the infamous cabarets of Montmartre— and features one of the more common themes in fin-de-siècle Parisian art: the decadence and visual spectacle of nightlife. The raucous and often sordid environment of the Le Rat mort cabaret and its occupants were featured in the paintings of Degas, Manet and Toulouse-Lautrec in the previous century. Their re-appearance in the art of the Fauves, particularly Kees van Dongen, serves to confirm the continuing allure of music halls and cabarets well into the twentieth century. Vlaminck’s figure in Nu couché is tantalizing in her blatant display of nudity, lying provocatively prostrate on a couch that is suggested only through large fields of color, partially covered by a cloth. The stark whiteness of the figure’s heavily made-up face powerfully contrasts with the vibrant palette of her flesh and of the background. The undulating outlines of the figure diverge with the strong vertical brushstrokes of pure color that define the setting behind her. As with many of Vlaminck’s nudes a black outline gives structure to the figure’s form; the artist uses this device in partner with coordinating tones to define details within the solid swathes of pigment that construct her body.

Within the Fauvist group Vlaminck was particularly close to André Derain, whom he had met in 1900 when the train they were both traveling on derailed outside of Paris. After this encounter, Vlaminck rented a studio where he and Derain set out on an independent course to break the boundaries of Impressionism through the use of a radically unorthodox palette, non-naturalistic color and a more abstract arrangement of space. Years later, when Derain returned to Paris from the south of France, he rented a studio on the rue Tourlaque, near Le Rat mort, and there the two friends embarked on a painterly investigation of various cabaret denizens. The resulting compositions are daring in their experimentation and expressive use of color to depict the human body.