He entered the Ecole des arts decoratifs in Paris in 1890, became Gustave Moreau's pupil in 1897, and a great friend of Matisse. His main influences were Van Gogh and Cezanne. Like Camoin he portrayed street scenes. He rallied to the early Fauvist movement. He first exhibited at the Independants in 1901, then at the Salon d'automne. From 1904 to 1906 he lived in Normandy with Dufy, then in the south of France with Camoin. During this period he discovered the plunging perspectives of the banks of the Seine, his favourite theme. He travelled extensively in Egypt, Norway, Switzerland, Africa, Holland, Italy and England, seeking to capture the atmosphere and light of each country. Marquet did not long retain his early Fauvist ideals (Woman in an Interior, 1900; Notre Dame, Sun, Portrait of Andre Rouveyre, 1904; Corporal Fourrier of the Coloniale, 1907; Colours of Naples, 1908). It would, nevertheless, be wrong to say that he belonged to the Fauves only by virtue of his Fauvist acquaintances. Although he disliked tonal violence he liked the syncopated composition and the agile, elegant draughtsmanship of Fauvist art. His last paintings are markedly Impressionist in style. He is usually regarded as a painter of cities and ports, of the Paris bridges and quaysides. His view of nature is simple yet poetic.

Post-Impressionism, Michel-Claude Jalard, Edito Service SA, Geneva