A familiar view of Montmartre greets the visitor at this exhibition, which runs until next January. It is the "Moulin de la Galette", the open-air dance hall in the garden of an old windmill on the top of the hill. The work here is not by Renoir (actually in the musée d'Orsay), but Raoul Dufy's light sketchy version of the Renoir.
Dufy was a native of Le Havre, on the Normandy coast. His first job was working for a coffee importer near the port. The tangled lines of masts and riggings were a familiar sight to him. His evening drawing classes led to a scholarship at the Beaux Arts in Paris, supervised by Léon Bonnat. He came to Paris in 1899, aged 21, and lived at different addresses alternating between the left bank and right bank. In 1900 he shared a studio with fellow artist from Le Havre Otto Friesz in the very house which is now the Montmartre Museum.
Other artists who lived or worked here include Renoir, in 1876, the year before Raoul Dufy was born. Renoir was painting his large canvas mentioned above at the time and wanted to be 'in the thick of it', according to his son Jean, the film director.
Dufy followed in Renoir's steps 24 years later. In 1911, Dufy moved into an apartment with his wife at 5 impasse Guelma, near place Pigalle. This became his Paris base for the rest of his life. He painted his studio walls an intense blue, which perhaps reminded him of the blue of Mediterranean seascapes. He had visited Martigues in the South of France in 1903 where he discovered the 'unchanging Mediterranean light', as he described it. In 1906 he saw Matisse's brightly coloured "Luxe,Calme et Volupté" for the first time. (now in the musée d'Orsay)
Dufy's most famous works featuring vivid turquoise and purple skies, white sail boats scudding across bright blue seas are not so much on show here, since the exhibition concentrates on his Paris scenes, but a work typical of his familiar style, represents Nogent on the Marne river.
The scene, painted in 1935, when Dufy was 58, features a train steaming across a stone viaduct, Against the intense blues and greens we see boats and flying flags. This oil painting is lent by the André Malraux Museum in Le Havre, which possesses several of its most celebrated son's works, including his ceramics.
Lent by a private collector, one of Dufy's first views overlooking Paris from Montmartre demonstrates his instinct for colour.
The essence of Montmartre is captured in this unassuming street scene of 1902. Dufy gives us a few indistinct figures, a Parisian lamp post and a sketchy Eiffel tower in the background- a relatively new addition to the Paris skyline at the time. Pink and white houses, strong splashes of green and red, the golden sunlight of the foreground contrast with the lively movement of the blue, purple and whites of the sky. Dufy is normally referred to as a Fauvist painter because of his intense and sometimes arbitrary colours, which appeal to our emotions.
In this undated self portrait, Dufy's style is fluid. The same brushstrokes in the waves of his hair are to be found in the waves of his seascapes!
After seeing the 1907 exhibition in Paris of Cézanne's works, Dufy and Braque went down to l'Estaque in the South together to discover the late artist's methods. A flavour of Braque and of cubism is evident in Dufy's bouquet of flowers, in the picture of his attic studio near the place Saint Michel.
The steeple of St Germain-des-près is visible through the window. An example of the French term 'mise en abyme' is the work within a work, or rather in this case, the 2 empty canvases, awaiting the artist's brush.
Dufy had several musician friends and this allowed him to spend time sketching the orchestra at the théâtre des Champs Elysées. It was at this theatre, in 1934, that marine divinities clad (or unclad) by Jeanne Lanvin danced in front of a window opening onto the blue sea, designed by Raoul Dufy. The ballet was called "Palm Beach".
Music was very important to Dufy, and a major theme in his work. His father was an accountant, but also an accomplished amateur musician. As in Matisse's work, we find the violin is a recurring image in Dufy's.
This is the picture that was used for a postage stamp in 1965 as a tribute to the painter.
Several of the works in the Montmartre museum have been lent by the Pompidou Centre, so will be on view there when this exhibition ends. Mme Dufy, the artist's widow, left a considerable legacy of Raoul's creations in 1962, 9 years after he died at the age of 75. These works were shared by the Museums of le Havre, Nice (her native town) and Paris.
Although a talented colourist, Dufy was always preoccupied with line and design. His enchanting bright colours became detached from the drawing as he developed his particular style. He himself explained an experience he had in Honfleur, where he watched a girl running along a jetty and he realised that the colour reached his eyes before the line. The detachment of colour and line he subsequently practised gives a certain whimsical impression at times, or a lightness, almost caricatural, which is one of Dufy's characteristics. It may also have led to his being less considered by the art world than his more heavy-weight contemporaries Matisse and Picasso, but his prices are catching up nowadays! (Count a couple of million if you wish to acquire one)
Dufy's decorative arabesques often overlay an aura of luminous colour, giving a certain rhythm. His paintings have sometimes been compared to orchestra scores, fitting for someone who favoured the orchestra as a theme.
Flowers too were a chosen motif. "30 years, or La Vie en Rose", echoing the Piaf song, is one of the most sensually pleasing works in the show:
Dufy's decorative talents led to book illustration. His twiddles were tamed by the discipline of making wood-cuts. His illustrations of animals for a Bestiary by poet Apollinaire then led him to fabric printing. Dufy was recruited by couturier Paul Poiret and they set up a 'Little factory' on the boulevard de Clichy. Next came a contract with a reputed silk manufacturer in Lyon: Bianchini Ferier.
One aspect of Dufy's design work while in Paris- furniture fabric-may come as a surprise, since his pieces are rarely seen. They are kept in pristine condition at the national furniture store (the Mobilier National) in case the president of France or some other important bureau would like to use them.
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| chairback shows Champs Elysées and arc de Triomphe |
A fine screen in purples and yellows containing a panoramic view of Paris, is also on display.
During the 1st. World War, Dufy was employed in the transport division and came into contact with aerial photos of Paris which probably influenced his vision. One of the preparatory sketches for the scene shows the dazzling colours he favoured:
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| Les Invalides at front. Assemblée Nationale near river |
Apart from the exhibition, the Musée de Montmartre is itself an enchanting place, with its garden and its permanent collection, including a whole zinc bar, saved from the Prussian invasion in 1870.
Not least in interest is the restored studio of artist Suzanne Valadon, mother of Utrillo, both of whom lived in the building in 1912, after Dufy. The experience of actually being in her studio transports the visitor into the Parisian 19th centure artistic world.
"Le Paris de Dufy", Musée de Montmartre, 12 rue Cortot.
Until 2 January, 2022.
Open Wed. to Sun. 11h to 18h and until 19h on Sat. and Sun.
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