Regatta at Cowes

1934

Raoul Dufy

Artist, French, 1877 - 1953

Abstracted sailboats are painted with triangles, squares, stripes, and streaks of mustard yellow, crimson red, mint green, black, and white against a field of vivid cobalt blue, which is the dominant color in this nearly square painting. The water is painted mostly with straight, parallel, horizontal strokes. V and W-shaped squiggles near the top center suggest sunlight glinting off the water at the horizon line, which comes about four-fifths of the way up the canvas. The sky is painted with longer horizontal strokes in shades of cobalt and baby blue. A triangular area of aqua along the right edge of the canvas could be shallow water or land. A double row of colorful square and rectangular nautical flags rise vertically up either side of a mast to left of center. Each is different: for instance, one has green and red stripes, another black and white checkers, while another is crossed with the Union Jack of the United Kingdom. White sails and other flags fill the water across the composition. The artist signed and dated the painting, along with the location, in the lower left corner: "Cowes 1934 Raoul Dufy."
This object’s media is not available for download. Contact us about image usage.
On View

East Building Ground Level, Gallery 103-D

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on linen

  • Credit Line

    Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 81.6 x 100.3 cm (32 1/8 x 39 1/2 in.)
    framed: 103.8 x 123.2 x 5 cm (40 7/8 x 48 1/2 x 1 15/16 in.)

  • Accession

    1970.17.30

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Estate of the artist [d. 1953], Paris;[1] (Wildenstein & Co., Inc., London and New York); sold 3 December 1962 to Mrs. Ailsa Mellon Bruce [1901-1969], New York;[2] bequest 1970 to NGA.
[1] Letters of 8 February 1978 and 22 October 1985 from Wildenstein & Co., Inc., in NGA curatorial files. [2]] Date according to the Ailsa Mellon Bruce notebook now in NGA archives; the invoice was dated 13 April 1962.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1952

  • Raoul Dufy, Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Geneva, 1952, no. 22, as Cowes. Les Régates.

1953

  • Raoul Dufy, Musée d'Art Moderne, Paris, 1953, no. 73.

1954

  • Raoul Dufy, Tate Gallery, London, 1954, no. 41, repro.

1955

  • Raoul Dufy, Stedelikj Van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven, 1955, no. 49.

  • Le Mouvement dans l'Art Contemporain, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, 1955, no. 41.

1957

  • Dufy, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon, 1957, no. 54, repro.

1961

  • Raoul Dufy, Wildenstein & Co., Inc., London, 1961, no. 14.

1962

  • Paintings, Watercolors and Drawings by Raoul Dufy, Wildenstein & Co., Inc., New York, 1962, no. 18.

1983

  • Raoul Dufy, Hayward Gallery, London, 1983-1984, no. 106.

1996

  • Obras Maestras de la National Gallery of Art de Washington, Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City, 1996-1997, unnumbered catalogue, 182-183, color repro.

1999

  • Extended loan for use by Secretary William M. Daley, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C., 1999-2000.

2000

  • Extended loan for use by Secretary Norman Y. Mineta, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C., 2000-2001.

2005

  • La mar de arte. Una travesia por la historia de la navegació a vela (Art Galore. An exploration into the History of Sailing), IVAM, Valencia, 2005-2006, unnumbered catalogue.

2014

  • Matisse and Friends: Selected Masterworks from the National Gallery of Art, Denver Art Museum, 2014-2015, no catalogue.

Bibliography

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 114, repro.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 590, no. 914, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 139, repro.

Inscriptions

lower left: Cowes 1934 / Raoul Dufy

Wikidata ID

Q20192955

You may be interested in

Loading Results