Étude pour "L'Âge d'Or"

A preparatory study for Derain's large-scale painting L'Âge d'Or (c. 1905), now in the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art. Nude and semi-nude figures dance, bathe, and recline across the composition — some rendered in red-orange wash, others as flat blue silhouettes. A large blue reclining figure dominates the foreground at the left, with a central group of dancing figures in pink flesh tones, and smaller red figures at the right against a deep blue backdrop of trees. The finished painting has not been shown to the public in Tehran since the 1979 revolution. This study captures the full energy of the composition in loose, rapid brushwork — the blue and red-orange color scheme is bolder and more graphic than the finished oil.