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25 Régates, 1925 Signed lower centre 'Raoul Dufy' Oil on canvas 12 7/8 x 16 1/8 in, 32.6 x 40.8 cm Provenance Private collection Exhibitions Tokyo, Bunkamura Museum, Raoul Dufy, Mer et musique avec une vocation de Paris, September - November 1994, no.53 (illus.); this exhibition later travelled to Kasama, Nichido Museum, Himeji, City Museum of Art and Toyohashi, City Museum of Art. Literature This work is to be included in the second supplement to the Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint de Raoul Dufy being prepared by Fanny Guillon-Laffaille and is accompanied by a photo-certificate signed by Mme. Guillon-Laffaille and dated Paris, 10 May 1993, no. 93-222 Dufy had an innate connection to the harbour landscapes of northern France and often returned to these subjects throughout his career. However, Dufy separated himself from comparable works by Impressionist artists through a distinctive new approach that embraced the world of 'things unseen'. In particular, the joyful atmosphere of the regattas and spectators jostling along the shoreline to watch the yachts sail by suited Dufy's unique style and allowed him to put his own artistic twist on the towns of his youth. In examples such as Régates (1925) and Régates à Deauville (1945) Dufy conveys the excitement of the onlookers as well as the frantic movement of the boats themselves as they weave between the waves and their sails billow in the wind. In both of these works Dufy's use of a radiant Prussian blue is suggested by Dora Perez-Tibi to recreate a 'fanfare of colour to announce the start of the race'. Dufy's regatta scenes are some of his most iconic and can now be found in international public collections including National Gallery of Ar t, Washington; Musée du Havre; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Musee d'Ar t modern de la Ville de Paris and Tate, London. A comparable racing scene, Régates à Deauville, was also amongst the first works by Raoul Dufy to be purchased by the French State in 1934.