Galerie Louis Carré, Paris
Wildenstein & Co., Inc., New York
Sale: Christie's, New York, 15th November 1988, lot 37
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Le Fauvisme, 1951, no. 54
Venice, XXVI Biennale Internazionale d'Arte, 1952, no. 34
Copenhagen, Ny-Carlsberg Glyptotek, Raoul Dufy, 1953, no. 10
Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Raoul Dufy, 1953, no. 25
Nice, Galerie des Ponchettes, Hommage à Raoul Dufy, 1954, no. 9
Knokke-le-Zoute, VIIème Festival Belge d'Eté, 1954, no. 5
Marseille, Musée Cantini, Hommage à Raoul Dufy, 1954, no. 11

Pierre Courthion, Raoul Dufy, Geneva, 1951, illustrated in colour pl. 48 (titled Plage de Sainte-Adresse)
Maurice Laffaille, Raoul Dufy. Catalogue raisonné de l'œuvre peint, Geneva, 1972, vol. I, no. 306, illustrated p. 258

The canvas is lined. Apart from a thin vertical line of retouching in the blue pigment in the lower right and a few scattered small spots of retouching, visible under ultra-violet light, this work is in good condition. Colours: Overall fairly accurate in the printed catalogue illustration, although the blue tones are more pronounced in the original.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Painted around 1908-09, the present work is a wonderfully vibrant image of the sea-front of Sainte-Adresse. In 1901-02 Dufy executed several views of the beach at Sainte-Adresse in the manner of Eugène Boudin, and in 1904 he first became familiar with the divisionist technique of Paul Signac, during a major exhibition at the Galerie Druet in Paris. It was not until Dufy visited the seminal 1905 Salon d'Automne, and saw Matisse, Derain and de Vlaminck’s contributions, that his own art changed dramatically. The following year during the summer Dufy travelled in the company of Albert Marquet along the Normandy coast, each artist exploring in his own way the expressive potential of colour and form evoked by the scenes they encountered in the popular resorts of Le Havre and Sainte-Adresse. This highly productive trip confirmed Dufy’s place amongst the Fauves, and the artistic significance of Sainte-Adresse within his œuvre. Dufy’s contact with Georges Braque towards the end of the decade led him to incorporate certain proto-cubist elements into his own work, as exemplified by Sainte-Adresse with its concentrated arrangement of houses, beach and sea which emphasises the structural content rather than conventional perspective.

The present work is a remarkable example of the frenetic brushwork and striking palette that Dufy employed at the time, with the rugged forms of the coastline executed with similar energy as the choppy sea. The vivid oranges and reds of the town form a dynamic contrast with the cooler hues of the sea. The artist himself said of his paintings of this period:  ‘I was painting on the beach of Sainte-Adresse. I had previously painted beaches in the manner of the Impressionists, and had reached saturation point, realizing that this method of copying nature was leading me off into infinity, with its twists and turns and its most subtle and fleeting details. I myself was standing outside the picture. Having arrived at some beach subject or other I would sit down and start looking at my tubes of paint and my brushes. How, using these things, could I succeed in conveying not what I see, but that which is, that which exists for me, my reality? […] From that day onwards, I was unable to return to my barren struggles with the elements that were visible to my gaze. It was no longer possible to show them in their external form’ (quoted in Dora Perez-Tibi, Dufy, London, 1989, pp. 22-23).

Sainte-Adresse remained with the artist until his death. It was chosen by him to be included in the historic exhibition Le Fauvisme held at the Musée National d’Art Moderne in Paris in 1951 and the Venice Biennale in 1952. It was subsequently widely exhibited throughout France and the Netherlands in a series of shows commemorating Dufy’s life and career.