Masterpiece: Fauve Animated Harbour Scene, Ca 1910, the South of France, Georges Dusfrenoy French Oil on Canvas

Like all great art, this painting works on many levels. You can enjoy the bold, fauve

composition as a whole, or focus on different parts of the painting, where there is so much

to discover. I can't get enough of studying the figures in the foreground, all individual and

dynamic: the couple and their little girl, the lady with the veil, the people on the jetty, the

sailor on his boat.

On the hill in the background, the houses are gorgeous abstracted patchwork of shades of

green, orange, brown and white, heralding cubism.

Georges Dufrénoy (1870-1943) was an artist who cared deeply about art. He was not

interested in fame, gimmicks, or building a cult around his personality. He decided to

become a painter aged 17, after some hesitating between architecture and art. Note how

his interest in architecture is evident from the construction of this painting.

Dufrénoy initially studied with Jean-Paul Laurens at the Académie Julian in Paris from

1887, and subsequently became the only pupil of Désiré Laugier. His early works, which

he started exhibiting in 1895, were very much influenced by Impressionism. His gallerist from then on was Druet, who had artists such as Bonnard, Derain, Friesz, Marquet, and Vuillard under contract.

Our view of the heart of the Port de Toulon dates from this period, circa 1910. As you can

see, Toulon is still just a fishing harbour. Look at it a few years later and you'll find it having turned into a

major port, with ocean liners, battleships, and even submarines.

Works by Georges Dufrénoy are in the collections of the Pompidou Centre in France, the

Pushkin Museum in Moscow and the Hermitage in St Petersburg, the Royal Museum of

Modern Art in Brussels, The National Museum of Modern Art in Algiers, the Carnegie

Museum of Art in Pittsburgh and the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery in the UK, to

name but few.

Our work by Dufrénoy is presented in a very special frame. It previously housed a

painting by Seurat from Alexandre Roudinescu's collection, exhibited in Paris and in

Prague in the 1930s. A label of the Paris exhibition are still attached to the verso.

Nous parlons français, und wir sprechen auch Deutsch! Paintings may be viewed in Norwich and in Paris, as well as in London and Cambridge by appointment. Please contact us if you would like further details and images of an artwork.