Fauvism is the name applied to the work produced by a group of artists (which included Henri Matisse and André Derain) from around 1905 to 1910, which is characterised by strong colours and fierce brushwork. The name les fauves (‘the wild beasts’) was coined by the critic Louis Vauxcelles when he saw the work of Henri Matisse and André Derain in an exhibition, the salon d’automne in Paris, in 1905. The paintings Derain and Matisse exhibited were the result of a summer spent working together in Collioure in the South of France and were made using bold, non-naturalistic colours (often applied directly from the tube), and wild loose dabs of paint. The forms of the subjects were also simplified making their work appear quite abstract. The fauvists were interested in the scientific colour theories developed in the nineteenth century – particularly those relating to complementary colours. Complementary colours are pairs of colours which appear opposite each other on scientific models such as the colour wheel, and when used side-by-side in a painting make each other look brighter. In this mixed media project the students engaged in cutting and layering practice while focusing on the implementation of the fauvist flat and exaggerated colors. To apply the principles of landscape painting, the students started by working on the background plane. First they divided the surface into four sections and then painted them each in a different color. To practice their fine motor skills each student drew and then cut the simplified shapes of the trees and the buildings. The students grasped the idea of layering and the illusion of space, and demonstrated their comprehension by placing the smaller objects in the middleground and the larger objects in the foreground to form a landscape with trees and a village view. To carry out the fauvist idea in their art piece, the students applied bold contours and outlined the shapes of the trees and the branches to finalise their mixed media piece.