Raoul Dufy with Belle Epoque Bathers

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

The mother of the director Gérard Oury was closely linked to Raoul Dufy. It is therefore not surprising that the painter's works form the bulk of the sale of the collection of the filmmaker, on 20 and 21 April at Artcurial in Paris.

All the classic themes of Dufy are present: Deauville, horse racing, casino scenes, still lifes.

Among this set, I chose to present one of the earliest, a large gouache and charcoal, 155 x 131 cm, made circa 1914. At that time, Dufy has already enjoyed the influence of fauvists, of Cézanne, and of his own work for wallpapers that led him to a softening of the lines.

The subject is a young bather lady. by night in front of a lighted building which is probably a casino. She is dressed in strict black bathing costume, according to the fashion of her time, short-sleeved but covering down to just above the knees.

I hope that the estimate, 350 K €, will be achieved. If so, this is a nice price for a gouache.

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

The first day of the sale was a success, with a total of € 5.5 million including expenses.

However, the gouache that I had described was the only one unsold among the 38 presented lots. I noted that the expected price was "nice" for a gouache.

I will make the nice assumption (but impossible to prove) that this work got a high estimate and a high reserve price because the seller wanted to keep it. This is already what some had understood about the Picasso of the Saint-Laurent - Bergé collection.