Raoul Dufy in America

i have a folder of paintings by Raoul Dufy on my mac that i look at every now and then, sometimes i set them as my desktop wallpaper… and then i have to set it back to something else because they are just too bright, beautiful and colourful for me to look at 24/7. i have been wanting to do a post about him for ages but wasn’t sure in what context - until i found these images of an elderly Dufy visiting the USA in 1950, where he was being treated for crippling arthritis. he used to fasten the brush to his hands just so he could continue working.

sadly it is believed that Dufy died as a result of the continuos arthritis treatment he was receiving, due to mixing his medication with aspirin. also, interestingly, it is has been suggested that rheumatoid arthritis was more common in artists of that day who used intensely bright colours due to the heavy metals present in the pigment. it also didn’t help that most of them were smokers. can you imagine a french artist without a cigarette or pipe in their hand?

you can read the Life Magazine article here. photographs by Gjon Mili.

“disgusted by the drum majorettes”

“Brooklyn Bridge was rapidly sketched from the front seat of a moving car in which Dufy made three slow trips across the bridge”

above: a portrait of the photographer painted by Dufy.

here are some of my favourite Raoul Dufy pieces.