Raoul Dufy Regatta at Cowes

Abstracted sailboats are painted with triangles, squares, stripes, and streaks of mustard yellow, crimson red, mint green, black, and white against a field of vivid cobalt blue, which is the dominant color in this nearly square painting. The water is painted mostly with straight, parallel, horizontal strokes. V and W-shaped squiggles near the top center suggest sunlight glinting off the water at the horizon line, which comes about four-fifths of the way up the canvas. The sky is painted with longer horizontal strokes in shades of cobalt and baby blue. A triangular area of aqua along the right edge of the canvas could be shallow water or land. A double row of colorful square and rectangular nautical flags rise vertically up either side of a mast to left of center. Each is different: for instance, one has green and red stripes, another black and white checkers, while another is crossed with the Union Jack of the United Kingdom. White sails and other flags fill the water across the composition. The artist signed and dated the painting, along with the location, in the lower left corner: "Cowes 1934 Raoul Dufy."