Fine Arts
RAOUL DUFY
(Le Maure 1877 - Forcalquier 1953)
Born into a modest family, Raoul Dufy is put to work early on,
which doesn't keep him from taking drawing courses in the evening
given by Charles Lhuillier at the municipal Beaux-Arts in his hometown.
Beginning in 1900 he studies with Bonnat in Paris.
Raoul Dufy is initially seduced by Impressionism from which he will
distance himself after discovering the southern light and the vibrations
of colors so different from the soft tones of Normandy, during a
stay in Martigues.
He adheres, on the heels of Matisse, to Fauvism which he appreciates
for its segmented tones. He then turns to a freer interpretation
of cubism. This free spirit couldn't help but appeal to the couturier
Paul Poiret ; a meeting between the two men in 1910 gives rise to
a collaboration which grants the painter a comfortable financial
situation. Based in Paris, introduced to the mundane circles, Raoul
Dufy enjoys international success beginning in 1925.
All the same, his life is marked by frequent stays in the south
of France, on the Mediterranean coast, From Martigues to Nice, stopping
off at Hyères or in the back-country, at Vence for instance.
Besides , it is in the south which so fascinated him, in Forcalquier,
that Raoul Dufy, crippled with Polyarthritis, will end his days
in 1953.
Raoul Dufy
Garden at Hyères
Oil on wood
H. 20 cm (7 7/8 in.)
L. 26,5 cm (10 1/4 in.)
Museum of Modern Art deposit, Paris.
During his frequent stays in the south of France, Raoul Dufy paints
those landscapes dear to him : Nice, Vence, Hyères, the Marseilles
region : Martigues, l'Estaque.
The "Garden at Hyères", in a cameo of green and yellow, is treated
with broad and energetic strokes of color, providing the general
atmosphere and depth, spilling over the cursory, almost secondary,
undulating contours of the drawing.