The Sea and the Ships

Seascapes form an important part of the range of subjects treated by Raoul Dufy. The sea serves the artist as an infinite source of a great many variations, where every ripple of waves and every cloud change the intensity of light and brightness of colour. In 1925–1930, Dufy produced a series of paintings and drawings inspired by boat races; this gave him an opportunity to combine the treatment of atmospheric effects and colours with the depiction of movement and diverse motifs. He created his own artistic vocabulary: to express wave movement, he covers the water surface with arabesques and varyingly sharp−pointed triangles; he depicts the fragmentation of light and the sun reflections on the water using colours laid one next to the other, building them up into kinds of pyramids. The sun rays are painted with thin strokes, like in children’s drawings. This brings Dufy’s landscapes close to folk or naïve art.