How did the 1905 Salon d’Automne lead Georges Braque toward Fauvism?

Georges Braque’s transition toward Fauvism was sparked by his visit to the 1905 Salon d’Automne in Paris. At this exhibition, Braque encountered the works of a group of artists—led by Henri Matisse—who were famously dubbed fauves ("wild beasts") due to their aggressive, uninhibited use of pure, arbitrary color.123

Witnessing this "violent explosion" of color served as a revelation for Braque, who had previously been influenced by the Impressionists. Following this experience, he became a convinced, albeit relatively prudent, Fauvist for the next two years. During this period, he worked on the French Mediterranean coast and in Antwerp, applying the Fauvist interest in the expressive function of color to his own landscapes. While this phase was a transitional learning stage for him, his Fauvist works began to incorporate a sense of rhythm and structure through small spots of color, which foreshadowed his later development of Cubism.21