Raoul Dufy

Raoul Dufy was a French Fauvist painter, born on born June 3, 1877.

He became famous thanks to the a colorful, decorative style that he developed and became fashionable for designs of ceramics and textiles, as well as decorative schemes for public buildings. He was also a draftsman, printmaker, bookillustrator, Scenic designer, a designer of furniture, and a planner of public spaces.

In 1900 Dufy went to Paris to attend the École des Beaux-Arts. He used to paint in an Impressionist style at the beginning , but by 1905 he had begun to use the broad brushstrokes and bright colours typical of Fauve artists.

A 1907 exhibition of Paul Cézanne’s work convinced Dufy to adopt temporarily more subdued colours and structured compositions. He worked in a Cubist-influenced style with Georges Braque and Émile-Othon Friesz between 1908 and 1909, but he returned to his more carefree Fauvist approach.

He began to create designs for a textile company in 1912, and in the 1920s he designed ceramics and tapestries.

In the early 1920s Dufy rededicated himself to painting and began to produce what are now his best-known works. His distinctive style is characterized by bright colours thinly spread over a white ground, with objects sketchily delineated by sensuously undulating lines.

He died on March 23, 1953, Forcalquier