Street Decked with Flags 1906

Raoul Dufy’s “Street Decked with Flags” at the Georges Pompidou Center is all about the energy of the brushstrokes and the vivacity of the palette. Can you feel him figuring it out, shifting and emerging through trial, error, and intuition? I can imagine Dufy standing before the canvas, probably on a street corner, capturing the festive atmosphere. He might have thought about the way color could convey emotion, the thick paint and loose brushstrokes dancing across the canvas. Look at that flag right in the center—the blue almost pulsating, the red vibrating. It feels like he's reaching back to Impressionism but really just going somewhere else! Dufy is in conversation with artists like Matisse, each pushing the boundaries of color and form. It is a reminder that painting embraces ambiguity, inviting us to find our own meanings within its depths. It's like a party you can just walk right into.