Raoul Dufy (1877-1953)

Dufy's abiding interest with color and the sea found its perfect outlet in the theme of the regatta with all its bustling activity and bright color. The subject first appeared in Dufy's oeuvre as early as 1907-1908, and the artist returned to it frequently from 1925-1935, depicting his native Le Havre and glamorous Deauville, as well as Henley and Cowes in England. By this time, he had developed a fascination for the elegant crowds attending the regattas and racecourses, approaching these events from the people's perspective, always keeping his treatment fresh by varying his colors and perspectives.
Dufy's interest here was two-fold: that of color and that of social observation. He was fascinated by the luminosity and transience of sunlight upon water and used this to further his theory of couleur-lumière. Dufy wrote, "the colour captures the light that forms and animates the group as a whole. Every object or group of objects is placed within its own area of light and shade, receiving its share of reflections and being subjected to the arrangement decided by the artist" (quoted in D. Perez-Tibi, Dufy, New York, 1989, p. 150).