A visit to The Museum of Modern Art in Paris presented me with the opportunity to immerse myself in the world according to Raoul Dufy. His stunning work La Fée Electricité is the largest painting in the world. To sit and contemplate each brush stroke, each stroke of research behind each detail and the wonderful harmony of colours that wash across the vast surface of this work is an absorption of total joy!
In feeling this sense of being overwhelmed, I also felt a strong connection with the other onlookers and observers in the room, each of us dwarfed by the looming figures of greatness that towered above us; each of us immersed into the swimming pool of history that the huge space giddily spun around us.
My challenge was to reproduce the essence of the feeling of this total immersion and in no way attempt to replicate the detail of the work of Dufy. The reflection of the painting on the floor gave an even greater feeling of depth and vastness to the space and allowed an even greater ability to feel that one stood in the very centre of the history of the piece. Oil, to me, was the only choice of medium that could portray what I wanted to create. By building up layer upon layer of thin glazes I felt a sense of the transparency of light and colour I had experienced whilst standing in awe of Dufy’s great work.
Dimensions89 x 180 cm
MediumOil on canvas
