Raoul Dufy, 1877-1953French painter in oil andwatercolour, illustrator and designer. Born at Le Havre. Took a job in commerce but also began in 1892 to attend evening classes at the municipalEcole des Beaux-Arts, where he met Othon Friesz. Awarded a scholarship in 1900 and went to Paris where he studied for four years under Bonnat at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Influenced at first by theImpressionists, then from 1905 by theFauvestyle of Matisse and began to work in richer colours. First one-man exhibition at the Galerie Berthe Weill, Paris, 1906. Worked with Marquet at Trouville in 1906 and with Braque at L'Estaque in 1908; was temporarily influenced by Braque's earlyCubiststyle and Czanne. Set up a small factory about 1911 to design and print fabrics for the couturier Poiret. From 1920 onwards made frequent visits to Vence, Nice and elsewhere in the Midi. Painted regattas, concerts,landscapesand racecourses in brilliant colours and with calligraphic brushwork. Decorated ceramics by Artigas from 1923-30, illustrated various books withwoodcuts,lithographsoretchings, and painted a huge mural of 'Electricity' for the 1937 Paris International Exhibition. Awarded the mainpaintingprize at the 1952 Venice Biennale. Died at Forcalquier, in the Basses-Alpes.

Open Window at Nice, 1928

Window on the Promenade des Anglais, Nice, 1938, Oil on canvas, 46 x 38.3 cm

Feu d'artifice Nice, le casino de la jete promenade, 1947

The Red Mosque

Los trigos

The Wheatfield,1929What I wish to show when I paint is the way I see things with my eyes and in my heart.

My eyes were made to erase all that is ugly.

I don't follow any system. All the laws you can lay down are only so many props to be cast aside when the hour of creation arrives.When I feel a little confused, the only thing to do is to turn back to the study of nature before launching once again into the subjects closest to heart.

American art, like America, must wait and live a while longer.

France has lived a long time - eight or nine centuries - and yet art in France, too, was derivative up until the 19th Century.Blue is the only color which maintains its own character in all its tones... it will always stay blue; whereas yellow is blackened in its shades, and fades away when lightened; red when darkened becomes brown, and diluted with white is no longer red, but another color pink.One must not imitate the sun, one must make oneself into a sun.The subject itself is of no account; what matters is the way it is presented.