Still life with violin: Hommage to Bach 1952

Raoul Dufy paid ‘Hommage to Bach’ in this lively still life with violin. I can almost feel the brush dancing across the canvas, laying down these strokes of vibrant red, against the calmer blues and whites. You know, painting is a bit like having a conversation with yourself, and with every mark Dufy made, he was probably thinking, “What if I put this here? How does this color play against that shape?” He probably added those scribbled lines to inject some energy into the scene, but who knows? There is something about that dark, almost gothic violin that resonates. Perhaps it's a nod to Bach's complex harmonies, a visual echo of his intricate scores. Painters and musicians, we're all just trying to make sense of the world, one mark, one note at a time, and we learn from each other, across time.