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Dufy was a French Fauvist painter. He was born in Le Havre, Normandy. At the age of eighteen, he started at Le Havre École des Beaux-Arts. In 1900, having completed a year’s military service, Dufy won a scholarship to study at the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where Georges Braque was a fellow student. While at the school, he was influenced greatly by the landscapes of Claude Monet and Camille Pissaro. Henri Matisse’s painting, Luxe, Calme et Volupté was said to lead towards Dufy’s interest in fauvism. The Fauves were interested in depicting scenes using bright and overemphasised colour. Dufy followed this technique until about 1909, when contact with Cezanne encouraged him to adopt a more muted approach. Dufy did not really develop his own style until the 1920s, after a brief spell with cubism. His own style can be seen to be skeletal in form, and using a form of brush work that was later described as stenographic.

Dufy was also an illustrator and designer. He died in 1953.