R
aoul Dufy painted this strikingly elegant and dynamic work at the height of his Fauve period, which coincided with the advent of Cubism. A vibrant and serene embodiment of the Côte d’Azur, Les Martigues reveals Dufy’s mastery of Fauvist chromaticism and brushwork alongside his embrace of spatial lessons from Cubism.
Dufy first discovered the luminosity of the South of France in 1903 and returned to the region throughout his career. As a native of the port town Le Havre, he was constantly drawn to the water and was fascinated by the industrialization and manual labor which took place in commercial hubs along the coast (see fig. 1). During Dufy’s time in the South of France, he was particularly struck by the charming coastal town of Martigues—the subject of the present work—nestled between Arles and Aix-en-Provence, towns with rich art historical significance (see fig. 2).
Fig 2. (Right) Dufy, Bateaux et barques aux Martigues, 1907, oil on canvas, sold: Sotheby’s London, February 2016, lot 349 for $881,795
Although small and quiet, the beautiful Martigues attracted many artists and inspired works by the likes of Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Francis Picabia (see figs. 3 & 4).
Fig. 4 (Right) Francis Picabia, Les Martigues, Bateau à quai, 1904, oil on canvas, Private Collection
The present work is notable for its harmonious composition, vibrant colors and dynamic treatment of space, wherein all forms are reduced to their most essential. In fact, the search for that which is essential or absolute was one of the most fundamental artistic aims among avant-garde artists of the twentieth century—a vision initiated by the Fauves or “wild beasts,” as they were named for their daring palettes and loose brushwork. Although a short-lived movement, Fauvism was incredibly popular and influential, and Dufy was one of the most prominent artists at its center.
I had previously painted beaches in the manner of the Impressionists, and had reached saturation point, realizing that this method of copying nature was leading me into infinity, with its twists and turns and its most subtle and fleeting details […] How, using these things, could I succeed in conveying not what I see, but that which is, that which exists for me, my reality? […] From that day onwards, I was unable to return to my barren struggles with the elements that were visible to my gaze. It was no longer possible to show them in their external form
While the present work possesses characteristically Fauve colors—which would remain a hallmark of Dufy’s work for the duration of his career—it also reflects the new influence of Cubism on his oeuvre. As one scholar explains of this period: “While [Dufy] remained devoted to a sustained chromaticism, he arranged his forms in a tiered perspective: the greatest emphasis is placed on a rigorous geometrical style which defines the structures repeated throughout the composition” (Dora Perez-Tibi, Dufy, Paris, 1989, p. 32). The flattened perspective and geometric structure of the composition here recall the work of artist Paul Cézanne, who laid the foundation for the development of Cubism by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque.
After painting Les Martigues, Dufy experimented with a few styles before settling on his own distinctive approach to painting: skeletal forms layered with thin washes of paint and governed by foreshortened perspective. The Fauve period was only a brief moment in Dufy's career, but he retained and sincerely embodied what it taught him about color and simplicity. These tenets, so central to Dufy’s work, live on in the work of contemporary artists such as David Hockney and Matthew Wong.
