Along with André Derain and Henri Matisse, he is considered one of the principal figures in the Fauve movement, a group of modern artists who from 1904 to 1908 were united in their use of intense colour.

Vlaminck, then 23 and already active in anarchist circles in Paris,[5] met an aspiring artist, André Derain, with whom he struck up a lifelong friendship.

After viewing the boldly colored canvases of Vlaminck, Henri Matisse, André Derain, Albert Marquet, Kees van Dongen, Charles Camoin, and Jean Puy, the art critic Louis Vauxcelles disparaged the painters as "fauves" (wild beasts), thus giving their movement the name by which it became known, Fauvism.

Resentful that Fauvism had been overtaken by Cubism as an art movement Vlaminck blamed Picasso "for dragging French painting into a wretched dead end and state of confusion".

During the Second World War, Vlaminck visited Germany and on his return published a tirade against Picasso and Cubism in the periodical Comoedia in June 1942.

Sur le zinc called to mind the work of Toulouse-Lautrec and his portrayals of prostitutes and solitary drinkers, but does not attempt to probe the sitter's psychology—a break with the century-old European tradition of individualized portraiture.

The following year, he began to experiment with "deconstruction," turning the physical world into dabs and streaks of colour that convey a sense of motion.

[7] His later work displayed a darker palette, punctuated by heavy strokes of impasto contrasting with subtle blending and vibrant color temperature relations.