Raoul Dufy
1877 - 1953
Le Cirque
Oil on canvas
60 x 81 cm (23 ⁵/₈ x 31 ⁷/₈ inches)
Signed and dated lower right, Raoul Dufy 1934
60 x 81 cm (23 ⁵/₈ x 31 ⁷/₈ inches)
Signed and dated lower right, Raoul Dufy 1934
Dr. Alexandre Roudinesco, Paris, commissioned from the artist
Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc., New York, 1968, consigned by the above
Evelyn Sharp, New York, acquired from the above
Sotheby’s New York, 1997, consigned by the above
Private collection, California, acquired from the above
Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc., New York, 1968, consigned by the above
Evelyn Sharp, New York, acquired from the above
Sotheby’s New York, 1997, consigned by the above
Private collection, California, acquired from the above
Basel, Kunsthalle, Vlaminck, R. Dufy, Rouault, 14 May - 12 June 1938, no. 76
Paris, Galerie Charpentier, Chevaux et cavaliers, 1948, no. 53
Paris, Musée national d’art moderne, Raoul Dufy, 1953, no. 72, pl. XX, illustrated
London, The Tate Gallery, Raoul Dufy, 1954, no. 68
Paris, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune-Dauberville, Chefs d’oeuvre de Raoul Dufy, 1959, no. 31, fig. 13, illustrated
New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, The Evelyn Sharp Collection, 1978, no. 19, p. 43 (illustrated in colour)
Paris, Galerie Charpentier, Chevaux et cavaliers, 1948, no. 53
Paris, Musée national d’art moderne, Raoul Dufy, 1953, no. 72, pl. XX, illustrated
London, The Tate Gallery, Raoul Dufy, 1954, no. 68
Paris, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune-Dauberville, Chefs d’oeuvre de Raoul Dufy, 1959, no. 31, fig. 13, illustrated
New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, The Evelyn Sharp Collection, 1978, no. 19, p. 43 (illustrated in colour)
Marcel Brion, Raoul Dufy: Paintings and Watercolours, London 1958, no. 57, p. 111 (illustrated)
Maurice Lafaille, Raoul Dufy: Catalogue raisonné de l’oeuvre peint, vol. IV, Geneva 1977, no. 1585, p. 150 (illustrated)
Maurice Lafaille, Raoul Dufy: Catalogue raisonné de l’oeuvre peint, vol. IV, Geneva 1977, no. 1585, p. 150 (illustrated)
Born in Le Havre in 1877, Raoul Dufy was a leading Fauvist celebrated for a bright, decorative body of work. After early exhibitions in Paris alongside Matisse, Braque and Derain, he forged a distinctive style of luminous colour washes and calligraphic line. He is widely admired for scenes of modern leisure, and his work is held in major public collections worldwide.
The present painting captures the spectacle of the circus, a subject that drew many artists of the School of Paris at the turn of the twentieth century. Cirque Médrano became a gathering place for the likes of Van Dongen, Picasso, and Dufy, where movement and colour offered an exciting arena for studying the human figure.
What is perhaps most striking about Le Cirque is Dufy’s bold use of ochre which gives the painting strong wall power and conjures the joy of the ring. The composition feels modern and fully resolved, seen from a distinctive bird’s eye view.
The painting was commissioned directly from the artist by the paediatrician and collector Alexandre Roudinesco, in whose collection it remained for thirty-four years. Roudinesco was an avid and early School of Paris collector who cultivated close friendships with its artists, particularly Dufy who described him as an enthusiastic but very exacting client.
Overall, we consider this painting to be one of the strongest Dufy’s available on the market.
This original painting by Raoul Dufy is available for immediate purchase.
The present painting captures the spectacle of the circus, a subject that drew many artists of the School of Paris at the turn of the twentieth century. Cirque Médrano became a gathering place for the likes of Van Dongen, Picasso, and Dufy, where movement and colour offered an exciting arena for studying the human figure.
What is perhaps most striking about Le Cirque is Dufy’s bold use of ochre which gives the painting strong wall power and conjures the joy of the ring. The composition feels modern and fully resolved, seen from a distinctive bird’s eye view.
The painting was commissioned directly from the artist by the paediatrician and collector Alexandre Roudinesco, in whose collection it remained for thirty-four years. Roudinesco was an avid and early School of Paris collector who cultivated close friendships with its artists, particularly Dufy who described him as an enthusiastic but very exacting client.
Overall, we consider this painting to be one of the strongest Dufy’s available on the market.
This original painting by Raoul Dufy is available for immediate purchase.
Raoul Dufy
biography
Born in Le Havre, Raoul Dufy studied at the École des Beaux-Arts there before winning a scholarship in 1900 to the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris. His early paintings reflect the Impressionists he admired on the Normandy coast, above all Monet and Pissarro, together with views of the port and regattas around his home city.
After the 1905 Salon d’Automne he adopted the high colour and firm contour associated with Fauvism. The Cézanne retrospective of 1907 redirected his attention to structure and led to a brief, more constructed phase close to early Cubism. By the 1910s he had evolved his characteristic “stenographic” style: rapid, calligraphic line drawn over luminous colour washes, used to register changing light and rhythm rather than realism.
Motifs from modern leisure recur throughout his work, notably harbours and promenades, yachts and regattas, horse races at Longchamp or Epsom, orchestras and interiors. The subjects are arranged with buoyant spacing and a decorative sense of cadence that became a hallmark of his style.
Dufy worked widely across the decorative arts. He illustrated books, such as Apollinaire’s Le Bestiaire (1911), designed printed textiles for the Lyon firm Bianchini-Férier (from 1912), and produced ceramics and tapestries. The transfer between media sharpened his feeling for pattern and surface and fed back into the paintings.
He first exhibited in 1901 at the Salon des Artistes Français and continued to show at the Salon d’Automne and the Salon des Indépendants. In 1906 he took part in the Cercle de l’Art Moderne in Le Havre with Braque, Matisse and Manguin. Bernheim-Jeune presented his first retrospective in 1921. For the 1937 Exposition internationale des arts et techniques he painted the monumental mural La Fée électricité for the Palais de la Lumière et de l’Électricité (today Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris).
From the late 1930s Dufy suffered from polyarthritis, yet continued to work, often in the south of France. He represented France at the Venice Biennale in 1952, where he received the Gran Premio. He died in 1953.
Dufy’s paintings and works on paper are held in major public collections, including the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, the Musée National d’Art Moderne–Centre Pompidou, Tate, London, and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. His oeuvre is prized for luminous colour, musical line and an enduring celebration of modern urban and coastal life.
Dufy worked widely across the decorative arts. He illustrated books, notably Apollinaire’s Le Bestiaire (1911), designed printed textiles for the Lyon firm Bianchini-Férier (from 1912), and produced ceramics and tapestries. The transfer between media sharpened his feeling for pattern and surface and fed back into the paintings.
He first exhibited in 1901 at the Salon des Artistes Français and continued to show at the Salon d’Automne and the Salon des Indépendants. In 1906 he took part in the Cercle de l’Art Moderne in Le Havre with Braque, Matisse and Manguin. Bernheim-Jeune presented his first retrospective in 1921. For the 1937 Exposition internationale des arts et techniques he painted the monumental mural La Fée électricité for the Palais de la Lumière et de l’Électricité (today Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris).
From the late 1930s Dufy suffered from polyarthritis, yet continued to work, often in the south of France. He represented France at the Venice Biennale in 1952, where he received the Gran Premio. He died in 1953.
Dufy’s paintings and works on paper are held in major public collections, including the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, the Musée National d’Art Moderne–Centre Pompidou, Tate, London, and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. His oeuvre is prized for luminous colour, musical line and an enduring celebration of modern urban and coastal life.
After the 1905 Salon d’Automne he adopted the high colour and firm contour associated with Fauvism. The Cézanne retrospective of 1907 redirected his attention to structure and led to a brief, more constructed phase close to early Cubism. By the 1910s he had evolved his characteristic “stenographic” style: rapid, calligraphic line drawn over luminous colour washes, used to register changing light and rhythm rather than realism.
Motifs from modern leisure recur throughout his work, notably harbours and promenades, yachts and regattas, horse races at Longchamp or Epsom, orchestras and interiors. The subjects are arranged with buoyant spacing and a decorative sense of cadence that became a hallmark of his style.
Dufy worked widely across the decorative arts. He illustrated books, such as Apollinaire’s Le Bestiaire (1911), designed printed textiles for the Lyon firm Bianchini-Férier (from 1912), and produced ceramics and tapestries. The transfer between media sharpened his feeling for pattern and surface and fed back into the paintings.
He first exhibited in 1901 at the Salon des Artistes Français and continued to show at the Salon d’Automne and the Salon des Indépendants. In 1906 he took part in the Cercle de l’Art Moderne in Le Havre with Braque, Matisse and Manguin. Bernheim-Jeune presented his first retrospective in 1921. For the 1937 Exposition internationale des arts et techniques he painted the monumental mural La Fée électricité for the Palais de la Lumière et de l’Électricité (today Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris).
From the late 1930s Dufy suffered from polyarthritis, yet continued to work, often in the south of France. He represented France at the Venice Biennale in 1952, where he received the Gran Premio. He died in 1953.
Dufy’s paintings and works on paper are held in major public collections, including the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, the Musée National d’Art Moderne–Centre Pompidou, Tate, London, and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. His oeuvre is prized for luminous colour, musical line and an enduring celebration of modern urban and coastal life.
Dufy worked widely across the decorative arts. He illustrated books, notably Apollinaire’s Le Bestiaire (1911), designed printed textiles for the Lyon firm Bianchini-Férier (from 1912), and produced ceramics and tapestries. The transfer between media sharpened his feeling for pattern and surface and fed back into the paintings.
He first exhibited in 1901 at the Salon des Artistes Français and continued to show at the Salon d’Automne and the Salon des Indépendants. In 1906 he took part in the Cercle de l’Art Moderne in Le Havre with Braque, Matisse and Manguin. Bernheim-Jeune presented his first retrospective in 1921. For the 1937 Exposition internationale des arts et techniques he painted the monumental mural La Fée électricité for the Palais de la Lumière et de l’Électricité (today Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris).
From the late 1930s Dufy suffered from polyarthritis, yet continued to work, often in the south of France. He represented France at the Venice Biennale in 1952, where he received the Gran Premio. He died in 1953.
Dufy’s paintings and works on paper are held in major public collections, including the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, the Musée National d’Art Moderne–Centre Pompidou, Tate, London, and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. His oeuvre is prized for luminous colour, musical line and an enduring celebration of modern urban and coastal life.
Raoul Dufy
biography
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