Anemones 1937

Curator: Raoul Dufy's "Anemones," painted in 1937. There's a joyous explosion of color here, wouldn't you agree? Editor: Absolutely, it’s immediate and uplifting. I’m drawn to how Dufy uses such limited impasto in the rendering of his watercolor. He lets the white of the paper play with thin, unmodulated areas of color and outline. It’s a delicate dance between gesture and intention. Curator: Exactly! I feel that ephemeral, almost dizzying happiness just looking at it. The flowers are slightly off-kilter, like they are dancing. It's like the vase can barely contain them. Editor: It is very fauvist with how color takes on an expressive weight. Also, notice how casually the vase is painted, just loose, suggestive lines to contain this profusion of anemones. Given the period, it speaks to bourgeois values around domestic objects and taste. He captures that culture effortlessly with very limited materiality. Curator: Yes, that almost careless touch belies his skill! He makes it look so simple, as though you or I could just dash this off. But look closer at the nuances of each petal, each stem. It's artful in its casualness, right? A good representation of the "joie de vivre" that the artist so embodied. Editor: Well, there's a studied quality there as well, and the visible traces of layering and outlining give it more depth than just the surface-level appeal. He knew what he was doing when he took this subject to paper and watercolor! Curator: Absolutely, he knew exactly the feelings and the atmosphere he wished to evoke, and captured them expertly using very elementary materials and brush strokes. You could easily mistake it for mere decoration, and miss the real emotional weight. Editor: Ultimately it’s an artwork that's as intellectually light as it is aesthetically beautiful, if that makes sense. Curator: Precisely! It's the type of painting that stays with you, a little burst of sunshine even on a gloomy day.