Raoul Dufy
French, 1877 - 1953Les bateaux (Boats), n.d.
Not on view
Oil on canvas
Dimensions18 1/8 × 21 5/8 in. (46 × 54.9 cm)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. A. William Bishop in memory of Mrs. Spencer Bishop, 1973.72
Born in 1877 to an impoverished family in Le Havre, Raoul Dufy’s passion for painting began at a young age. He was enrolled at Le Havre School of Fine Arts by the time he was fifteen, and journeyed to Paris with only his bicycle and few belongings at the age of twenty-one. While in Paris, Dufy studied at the École des Beaux-Arts where Impressionism dominated. This influence is apparent in early landscapes, but was short-lived. In 1905, Dufy attended the Salon d’Automne where he was awe struck by the Fauvist group. He immediately incorporated several Fauvist characteristics into his own work. Les bateaux (French for “boats”) is an excellent example of Dufy’s use of vigorous brushwork, flat areas of color, and black contour lines.
