Strictly speaking, Fauvism, which lasted only three years, was not a movement in the sense in which the term is generally understood; its members never issued any joint theoretical manifestos. But during that time the Fauves (wild beasts) made some unique contributions to the world of art and some of the members produced exceptionally enlivening canvases.

The starting point of Fauvism was later identified by Henri Matisse, the sober leader of the Fauves, as “the courage to return to the purity of means.” It does sound like a bit of gobbledygook, but as a critic once pointed out by 'purity of means' Matisse and the other Fauvists Derain, de Vlaminck, Roualt and Dufy reclaimed the direct, joyous embrace of nature found in Impressionism and combined it with the heightened colour contrasts and emotional expressive depth of Post-Impressionism. Put another way, colour was freed from its role of describing external reality and the artist was left to exploit the pure chromatic intensity of paint. The spectacular paintings of the Frenchman Raoul Dufy are an excellent example of this.

While the Fauvists dissociated themselves from the literary aesthetics of Symbolism and gave a wide berth to fin-de-siècle morbidity, they at times committed the gaffe of allowing their search for immediacy and clarity to show forth with bold, almost unbearable candour.

None of the Fauves attempted complete abstraction and committed themselves to pictorial autonomy. But their great contribution lay in the fact that they extended the boundaries of representation. Their subjects covered still life, landscape and portraiture, and in the genius of Matisse one saw the exhumation and resuscitation of the culture of leisure as depicted by the Impressionists.

Matisse's 1893 classic still life oil on canvas entitled, 'The dessert' fashioned on Jan Davidz de Heem's 1640 classic oil on canvas of the same title, is one of the great treasures in the universal cache of art. But the Fauvist who interested this reviewer the most was not Matisse, but Raoul Dufy.

Dufy was certainly not the greatest or the most creative in the quintet, but he was certainly the most versatile having also acquired a reputation as an illustrator and as a commercial artist who changed the face of local fashion and fabric design. He painted murals for public buildings and also produced a huge number of tapestries and ceramic designs. To top it all, he completed one of the largest paintings ever contemplated, a huge and immensely popular ode to electricity, the fresco, 'La Fée Electricité' for the Exposition Internationale in Paris.

But it was to his paintings that this reviewer was riveted—'the Mediterranean' spread before him—and that view from a window to the sea beyond when Dufy was at his very best. In fact, this reviewer hasn't come across another Western artist who could use such a variety of blues in such a vibrant and exciting way and to such devastating effect. Dufy's cheerful oils and watercolors depict yachting scenes, sparkling views of the French Riviera, chic parties, and musical events.

For a while Dufy came under the influence of Georges Braque and experimented with a modified form of Cubism. But he was never very comfortable with this style; and after a brief foray into unchartered territory returned to what he was exceptionally good at—decorative colour and elegant craftsmanship translated in a unique calligraphic style.

In fact, Dufy developed a highly personal approach, which involved skeletal structures, arranged with foreshortened perspective, and the use of thin washes of colour applied quickly, in a manner that came to be known as stenographic. His pictures of horse races and regattas of his native Le Havre were greatly admired and sought after. When he died on March 23, 1953 a highly distinct and personal style died with him.