Raoul Dufy, born in 1877 in Le Havre, Normandy, is best known for his contributions to the Fauvist movement. At the age of 18, he began taking evening art classes at Le Havre's École des Beaux-Arts. In subsequent years, he exhibited and showed his work in various galleries. It wasn’t until Maurice Denis bought one of his paintings that he gained notable recognition. Dufy continued to paint in the vicinity of Le Havre and in a distinctively Fauvist style until around 1909 when he saw the work of Paul Cézanne, which led him to adopt a subtler technique. It wasn’t until 1920, after he had dabbled in Cubism, that he had developed his own distinctive style characterized by arrangements of skeletal structures using foreshortened perspective and the application of rapid, thin color washes. He frequently painted yachting and equestrian events, social gatherings, and scenes of the French Riviera. Dufy also worked as an illustrator and commercial artist. He painted murals for buildings and produced a number of tapestries and ceramic designs. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Dufy exhibited at the annual Salon des Tuileries in Paris. Sadly, by 1950, his ability to paint was diminished when his hands were impaired by rheumatoid arthritis.