Artists

Raoul Dufy

French, 1877-1953

Raoul Dufy was a prominent French painter whose prolific career spanned over 50 years.  In addition to his vocation as a painter, Dufy also worked as an illustrator (Apollinaire’s Bestiaire), fabric designer (for Paul Poiret) and decorator (the Fée Électricité for the Palais de la Lumière at the Exposition Universelle in 1937).

Dufy’s artistic training began when he and Othon Friesz were school friends and together studied the works of Eugene Boudin in the museum in Le Havre.  In 1900, Dufy received a local grant that enabled him to attend the l’École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he joined Bonnat’s studio. 

Shortly thereafter in 1902, he was introduced to Berthe Weill, who showed his work in her gallery.  Matisse’s painting, Luxe, Calme et Volupté, which Dufy saw at the Salon des Indépendants in 1905, was a revelation to the young artist and directed his interest towards Fauvism. With Friesz at Falaise, Marquet at Sainte-Adresse, and Braque at l’Estaque, he expressed his fondness for pure color and the charm of beach scenes.  It was only after the war that he found his own personal style, producing rapid but precise drawings of frequently plunging perspectives, to which clear colors were applied with a kind of casual freedom.