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Lot Essay
Executed in a rhapsody of delicate pastel hues, Raoul Dufy’s 14 juillet forms part of an important series of paintings created by the artist in 1906 focusing on the theme of the rue pavoisée, in which the streets were decorated with flags and bunting for the exuberant festivities of Bastille Day. Indeed, 14 juillet captures a sense of the excitement and joyous atmosphere that coincided with the transformation of the boulevards of Le Havre, where Dufy spent the summer of that year, working alongside his friend and fellow Fauvist, Albert Marquet. The 14th of July had only been designated a French national holiday in 1880, and so was still a relatively new celebration at the beginning of the Twentieth Century, eliciting great excitement amongst the public and encouraging such enthusiastic, patriotic decorations to spring up in towns across the country. Focusing on the view from the window of the artist’s hotel room, the street appears festooned in flags, the distinctive colour combination of the tricolour hanging from every available pole on the thoroughfare. These, along with the celebratory banners, enliven the street scene into a festive spectacle, as Dufy imbues each flag in the composition with its own distinct character. Their prominent position and carefully choreographed movement allow these flags to become the main protagonists of the composition, their sense of individuality conveyed through their nuanced shape and the ways in which their edges are caught by the fluttering breeze.
The scenes of the rue pavoisée provided Dufy with an opportunity to experiment with a more highly saturated colour palette in his compositions, inspired by the art of Henri Matisse, André Derain and the Fauves. The repetition of rich blue, white and vibrant red lends the street a dynamic visual rhythm, while Dufy’s simplification of form and use of subdued tones in the surrounding building facades allows the colours of the flags to come alive. However, the composition also owes a debt to Claude Monet’s Rue Saint-Denis, fête du 30 juin 1878, which Dufy most likely saw at the home of Rouen collector François Depeaux. Depeaux had recently purchased a Sainte-Adresse beach scene by Dufy from 1904, which he later donated to the Rouen Musée des Beaux-Arts along with the Monet. Like Monet’s painting, Dufy’s composition presents a distanced vision of the urban celebration, recorded from a window above rather than from the midst of the festivities. The Le Havre scene is a more subdued affair in comparison with that of Rue Saint-Denis though, as revellers stroll through the streets in a relaxed manner, gathered in small groups or on their own, but not crowded together in a heaving, bustling street. In the foreground of the composition, two of the revellers are glimpsed through the semi-transparent fabric of the foremost flag, which bathes them in its bright, vibrant colours and roots them in the joyous sense of celebration that Dufy experienced on the streets of Le Havre that day.
The scenes of the rue pavoisée provided Dufy with an opportunity to experiment with a more highly saturated colour palette in his compositions, inspired by the art of Henri Matisse, André Derain and the Fauves. The repetition of rich blue, white and vibrant red lends the street a dynamic visual rhythm, while Dufy’s simplification of form and use of subdued tones in the surrounding building facades allows the colours of the flags to come alive. However, the composition also owes a debt to Claude Monet’s Rue Saint-Denis, fête du 30 juin 1878, which Dufy most likely saw at the home of Rouen collector François Depeaux. Depeaux had recently purchased a Sainte-Adresse beach scene by Dufy from 1904, which he later donated to the Rouen Musée des Beaux-Arts along with the Monet. Like Monet’s painting, Dufy’s composition presents a distanced vision of the urban celebration, recorded from a window above rather than from the midst of the festivities. The Le Havre scene is a more subdued affair in comparison with that of Rue Saint-Denis though, as revellers stroll through the streets in a relaxed manner, gathered in small groups or on their own, but not crowded together in a heaving, bustling street. In the foreground of the composition, two of the revellers are glimpsed through the semi-transparent fabric of the foremost flag, which bathes them in its bright, vibrant colours and roots them in the joyous sense of celebration that Dufy experienced on the streets of Le Havre that day.