This page forms part of a series of pages dedicated to the many artists who worked in Trouville-sur-Mer. A full list of all the artists with a link to their works can be found at the bottom of this page.
Movement(s): Cubism, Fauvism, Impressionism, Modernism
Raoul Dufy (1877 – 1953) was a French Fauvist painter, brother of Jean Dufy. He developed a colorful, decorative style that became fashionable for designs of ceramics and textiles, as well as decorative schemes for public buildings. He is noted for scenes of open-air social events. He was also a draftsman, printmaker, book illustrator, scenic designer, a designer of furniture, and a planner of public spaces.
Raoul Dufy was born into a large family at Le Havre, in Normandy. He left school at the age of fourteen to work in a coffee-importing company. In 1895, when he was 18, he started taking evening classes in art at Le Havre’s École des Beaux-Arts (municipal art school).
The classes were taught by Charles L’Huillier, who had been, forty years earlier, a student of the French portrait-painter, Ingres. There, Dufy met Raimond Lecourt and Othon Friesz with whom he later shared a studio in Montmartre and to whom he remained a lifelong friend (he also met the de Saint-Delis brothers there, Henri de Saint-Delis and Rene de Saint-Delis). During this period, Dufy painted mostly Norman landscapes in watercolors.
In 1900, after a year of military service, Dufy won a scholarship to the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where again he crossed paths with Othon Friesz. He concentrated on improving his drawing skills. The impressionist landscape painters, such as Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro, influenced Dufy profoundly. His first exhibition (at the Exhibition of French Artists) took place in 1901.
Introduced to Berthe Weill in 1902, Dufy showed his work in her gallery. Then he exhibited again in 1903 at the Salon des Indépendants. A boost to his confidence: the painter, Maurice Denis, bought one of his paintings. Dufy continued to paint, often in the vicinity of Le Havre, and, in particular, on the beach at Sainte-Adresse, made famous by Eugene Boudin and Claude Monet. In 1904, with his friend, Albert Marquet, he worked in Fecamp on the English Channel (La Manche).
By 1950, his hands were struck with rheumatoid arthritis and his ability to paint diminished, as he had to fasten the brush to his hand. In April he went to Boston to undergo an experimental treatment with cortisone and corticotropin, based on the work of Philip S. Hench.
It proved successful, and some of his next works were dedicated to the doctors and researchers in the United States. In 1952 he received the grand prize for painting in the 26th Venice Biennale.
Dufy died at Forcalquier, France, on 23 March 1953, of intestinal bleeding, which was a likely result of his continuous treatment. He was buried near Matisse in the Cimiez Monastery Cemetery in Cimiez, a suburb of the city of Nice.
Click here to read Raoul Dufy’s full bio on Wikipedia.
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NOTE: A black box like this one, means that there is an explanation text about today’s situation of the painting above it.
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TODAY: There are still many villas alongside the beach promenade, some enormous, but many have been converted into apartments.
TODAY: The twin lighthouses are still there, the left one is in Deauville, the right one in Trouville.
Villerville
The village of Villerville (population: 700) lies to the North of Trouville-sur-Mer along the coast.
Raoul Dufy painted in several places in France (but notably in Normandy), the list is shown below (a link “⇠” to the works for each city will appear below when published):
- Grand Est
- Langres
- Normandy
- Bayeux (surrounding only) ⇠
- Nonant ⇠
- Caudebec-en-Caux ⇠
- Deauville ⇠
- Falaise
- Fecamp ⇠
- Honfleur
- Le Havre (and surroundings) ⇠
- Trouville-sur-Mer (and surroundings) ⇠
- Bayeux (surrounding only) ⇠
- Occitanie
- Perpignan
- Vernet-les-Bains
- Pays de la Loire
- Brissac Loire Aubance
- Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur
- Antibes
- Cannes
- Golfe-Juan
- Hyeres
- Marseilles
- Nice
- Saint-Jeannet
- Vallauris
- Villefranche-sur-Mer
Trouville-sur-Mer has been an in-spot for artists and wealthy patrons. Located next to Deauville and sharing the same railway station,many artists came here to work and mingle with the high-societe folks.
Here is a list of artists who working in Trouville (a link “⇠” to that artist’s works will appear when published). An “*” after an artist’s name means that the artist did not work in Trouville itself, but in a nearby town.
- 🇫🇷 Binet, George ⇠
- 🇺🇸 Boggs, Frank Myers ⇠
- 🇬🇧 Bonington, Richard Parkes ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Boudin, Eugene-Louis ⇠
- 🇬🇧 Boys, Thomas Shotter ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Bruelle, Gaston ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Caillebotte, Gustave ⇠
- 🇺🇸 Chapman, Conrad Wise ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Chapuis, Pierre ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Ciceri, Eugene ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Courbet, Gustave ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Daubigny, Charles-Francois ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Dubourg, Louis-Alexandre ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Dufy, Raoul ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Gernez, Paul-Elie ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Guerard, Henri * ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Hervier, Louis Adolphe ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Huet, Paul ⇠
- 🇳🇱 Jongkind, Johan ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Lebourg, Albert ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Lepine, Stanislas ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Letellier, Emile-Andre ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Loir, Luigi ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Monet, Claude ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Mozin, Charles Louis ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Noel, Jules Achille ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Pecrus, Charles Francois ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Petitjean, Edmond Marie ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Renoir, Pierre-Auguste ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Signac, Paul ⇠
- 🇳🇴 Thaulow, Fritz * ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Truffaut, Fernand-Fortune ⇠
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Jean Dufy, a French painter, was born in Le Havre and painted in the Fauvism, Impressionism, Modernism, and Cubism styles/movements. His older and more famous brother, Raoul Dufy, was also an artist and became Jean's mentor. Jean painted mostly in the Paris region, but did manage quite a few in…
