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The scenes inspired by mowing and painted by Dufy in his last years, eloquently show how he could interpret
the coldness of mechanical objects, integrating them in a light atmosphere of poetry and giving them a sort of elegance and
grace.
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| Charrette aux troncons de bois, 1943, watercolor |
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During World War II, Dufy took refuge in the South of France.
Driven out by the enemy invasion, he left Saint-Denis-sur-Sarthon at the beginning of 1940 to take refuge in the unoccupied
zone. From Nice, he returned to Ceret in search of a cure for his rheumatic attacks. Immediately after the completion
of La Fee Electricite, he began to feel the first effects of chronic, progressive polyarthritis, from which he suffered until
the end of his life.
Working constantly, Dufy made many drawings, watercolors and oil paintings for each
of the themes which he painted during this period -- it was in this work that he found relief from his physical suffering.
In addition to many still life and flower paintings, he created many watercolors,
painted spontaneously from life, and village farms, farm-yards, and graneries became favorite motifs during this period.
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| Le Moulin de Terssac, 1947, watercolor |
Music was one of the most important subjects from Dufy's last years. He felt
the need to bring painting and music together.
His passion for music, combined with his painter's sensitivity, led him to experiment
with the inter-relationships between the two artforms. He tried to transcribe music into an analogy of colors
and lines, and to base his pictorial compositions on those relationships.
In 1945, he moved
towards a different kind of painting: "tonal painting." While retaining his previous independence of outline and
color, along with his extraordinarily agile style and inventiveness, he abandons his three-color restrictions and begins to
paint the entire picture as an integrated whole.
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| Fanfare du Havre, 1951, watercolor |
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For Dufy, watercolors were neither sketches nor a series of preparatory steps
for a final oil painting. They were completed works in themselves, a means of expression where he felt at his ease
and which was suitable to his nature. He liked their fresh transparency which meant light more than substance; and also the
white sheets on which he painted were pure light, and color added a series of modulations to them without obliterating their
brilliance.
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| La Console Jaune, 1949, watercolor |
An example of his economy of means, La Console Jaune shows his ability to give a musical rhythm to
any object. Although the paintings of orchestras and musical instruments were created at a time when he was in
constant pain from arthritis, it is gay and lively. Executed in washes of golden ochre, the painting suggests an allegretto
by Mozart, whose Rococo spirit, aristocratic and refined temperament was very much like that of the painter.
In 1951 Dufy went to Tucson, Arizona, a city which had been recommended to him for its dry climate. He worked on
paintings and watercolors which had similar themes to his previous compositions. He enjoyed the spectacle of "marching
musicians" which grew into a series of Mexican Orchestras. These paintings had a rhythm in their color accents and simplified
and dynamic calligraphy. His taste for the festive led him to share in the popular jubilation which he showed
with an agile and playful line. He returned to Paris in July 1951 and returned to several of his themes, and in the
Fanfare du Havre , he returned to the spectacle of "marching musicians."
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The
Humanities Exchange, Montreal, Canada
T. 514-935-1228; F. 514-935-1299
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