Provenance
Estate of the artist [d. 1953], Paris;[1] (Wildenstein & Co., Inc., London and New York); sold 3 December 1962 to Mrs. Ailsa Mellon Bruce [1901-1969], New York;[2] bequest 1970 to NGA.
[1] According to letters of 8 February 1978 and 22 October 1985 from Wildenstein & Co., Inc., in NGA curatorial files.
[2] Date according to the Ailsa Mellon Bruce notebook now in NGA Archives; the invoice was dated 13 April 1962.
Accession Number
1970.17.31
Medium
oil on linen
Dimensions
overall: 89.2 x 116.2 cm (35 1/8 x 45 3/4 in.) | framed: 111.7 x 138.7 x 5.7 cm (44 x 54 5/8 x 2 1/4 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection
Tags
Painting Early Modern (1901–1950) Oil Painting French
Background & Context
Background Story
Regatta at Henley from 1937 depicts the famous rowing regatta at Henley-on-Thames, one of the most prestigious sporting events in the British social calendar. Dufy's treatment transforms the genteel English sporting event into a celebration of color and movement: the boats, the spectators, and the flags are rendered in the rapid, calligraphic drawing and flat, bright color that define his mature style. The 1937 date places this in Dufy's mature period, when his style had achieved the lightness and spontaneity that make his paintings of sporting events so characteristic.
Cultural Impact
Dufy's sporting paintings are among his most popular works because they combine the visual excitement of competitive sport with the decorative beauty of his color and drawing. Regatta at Henley transforms a genteel English social event into a celebration of color and movement—the boats and flags reduced to their decorative essentials, the spectators rendered as a pattern of bright colors against the river. The painting demonstrates Dufy's ability to find decorative beauty in any subject, no matter how specifically English or socially exclusive.
Why It Matters
Regatta at Henley is Dufy transforming English social ritual into decorative beauty: the Henley rowing regatta rendered in rapid, calligraphic drawing and flat, bright color that reduce boats, flags, and spectators to their decorative essentials. The painting is English social life seen through French decorative eyes—the regatta as a pattern of colors on the river.
