Raoul Dufy

Sale: Hôtel Drouot, Paris, February 27, 1932, lot 62
Sale: Bellier and Adler, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, June 5, 1945, lot 41 (titled as Régattes au Havre)
Kunsthandel Van Wisselingh, Amsterdam (probably acquired at the above sale)
Private Collection, The Netherlands (acquired at the above sale)
Thence by descent

Maurice Laffaille, Raoul Dufy, Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, vol. I, Geneva, 1972, no. 137, illustrated p. 124

Canvas is lined, surface is slightly dirty. The weave of the canvas is slightly visible in a few places, particularly at the center right edge. Under UV light: scattered strokes of inpainting around extreme edges (particularly upper edge) to address frame abrasion. There are also retouches at the bottom corners and in a few places throughout the sky. Some pigments in the sky fluoresce but appear to be original. Otherwise fine, in good condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Sur La Plage depicts a scene along the Channel coast at Le Havre where Dufy loved to paint. Its brilliant color and immediate application of paint portrays the artist's embrace of Fauvism. A dramatic shift in his work had been prompted a year earlier by a visit to the 1905 Salon d'Automne. There the vibrantly colored canvases of Henri Matisse, André Derain, Maurice de Vlaminck and others, who would be labeled Les Fauves or "wild beasts", encouraged his move away from illusionistic description and traditional pictorial devices towards the application of paint in broad areas and bold design. Particularly struck by Matisse's Luxe, calme et volupté (1904, Fig. 1) in the exhibition, Dufy noted that "At the sight of this picture I understood all the new reasons for painting, and Impressionist realism lost its charm for me as I contemplated the miracle of the imagination introduced into design and color. I immediately understood the new pictorial mechanics."

Indeed, while Dufy's earlier views of the Normandy coast recall precedents set by Eugène Boudin and Claude Monet, here extraneous details are suppressed in favor of clear zones represented by the boardwalk, sea and sky.  As John Elderfield has noted, "When Dufy looked to the ocean for his subjects his special floating colorism was further developed in the isolated arcs, curves, and even circles he began to use" (John Elderfield, The "Wild Beasts": Fauvism and Its Affinities, New York, 1976, p. 78).

Fig. 1 Henri Marisse, Luxe, calme et volupté, 1904, oil on canvas, Musée d'Orsay, Paris