Born in Le Havre, Raoul Dufy began in the Beaux-Arts with Friesz and continued in Paris. After a brief impressionist period, he became a fauve in 1906.
Influenced by Cezanne, he will abandon Fauvism in 1908…
- One minute with Raoul Dufy
- Works currently available | See more
- Raoul Dufy, painter with inimitable style | Read more
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One minute with Raoul Dufy
As part of our GREEN Spring palettes exhibition, let’s spend one minute on video with Raoul Dufy, with both Visite de l’Escadre anglaise au Havre and Le champ de blé.
Video subtitled in English
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Read more about GREEN Spring palettes exhibition
Works by Raoul Dufy currently available
Fontaine à Aspet
1945
Oil on canvas
46 x 38 cm
Price upon request. Contact us.
Raoul Dufy, painter with inimitable style
In 1912, Dufy signed a contract with Bianchini-Férier, a Lyon-based silk merchant.
He committed himself to making his compositions available (gouaches or watercolours) for printing.
He could therefore dedicate time to his research on colour. Little by little, his found his own inimitable style. His drawings are casual, allusive, and serpentine with supple elegance. The colours are limpid and sparkling. Beyond the subjects that became famous in his painted works (orchestras, race tracks, paddocks, circuses, allegories, marine themes, workshops, nudes and bouquets), his contribution to decorative arts (tapestries, silks, draperies, ceramics, theatre decors) is considerable.
Around 1920 Dufy released the colour of drawings, allowing it to spill over the edges. This freedom of colour echoes the spontaneity of the drawing. Watercolours lend themselves particularly well to this very personal cursive style. In 1935 he began to use medium, a mixture of water and varnish, which gave his oils the transparency and freshness of watercolours.
In 1938 he painted an immense fresco, La Fée Electricité, currently in the Museum of Modern Art in Paris. From the 1940’s onwards, Raoul Dufy leaned towards a purer form.
Despite the rheumatism that at the end of his life confined him to a wheelchair, the spirited work of this typically French painter remains a hymn to light, happiness and the joy of living.
Last exhibitions dedicated to Dufy
2011 : Raoul et Jean Dufy – Complicité et Rupture, Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris
2017 : Dufy – Le bonheur de vivre, Palais Lumière Evian
