Raoul Dufy, la mélodie du bonheur | Catalogue de l'exposition

Description

To inaugurate its partnership with Les Franciscaines in Deauville, the Centre Pompidou naturally chose to showcase a remarkable collection from its holdings: that of the studio of painter, draftsman, engraver, and decorator Raoul Dufy (1877-1953), bequeathed by his wife to the French state in 1963.

It is from this substantial collection of over 1,600 works, augmented by several donations and acquisitions, that the exhibition curators drew to create this retrospective. For the very first time, the exhibition brings together not only paintings, but also drawings, prints, ceramics, and textile works by the artist from the national collections. The ten sections of the exhibition, detailed in the catalogue, allow visitors to appreciate the breadth of a multifaceted talent that excelled in landscape painting, his initial training, as well as in portraiture, book illustration, and the decorative arts.

The title "Raoul Dufy, The Melody of Happiness" demonstrates the place that music regularly held in the artist's inspiration, but also his propensity to deliver a resolutely optimistic vision of the spectacle of life, which the world today needs more than ever.