Painting By Charles Dufresne

In 1887, he trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris as an engraver.

In 1903, he became friends with André DUNOYER de SEGONZAC

In 1908, he met Henri de WAROQUIER

In 1910, he won several awards; he abandoned pastels in favor of oil painting. In 1912, he returned to Paris, where he painted in lush colors.

In 1914, under the guidance of André de SEGONZAC, he excelled in the art of Cubist scenes.

In 1921 and 1923, he was commissioned to create tapestry designs on the theme of “Paul and Virginie” for a sofa tapestry to be presented at the 1925 World’s Fair.

He established his own studio, located next to those of Alexandre Calder and Henri Laurens; he later taught at the Académie Sacandinave, where his neighbor was Marie Elena Vieira da Silva.

Starting in 1930, his colors became definitively iridescent.

That same year, in preparation for the 1937 World’s Fair, he was commissioned to decorate two panels in the grand foyer of the Palais de Chaillot, and also created two screens on the theme of the Amazons, incorporated into Louis Sue’s “French Embassy” at the Decorative Artists’ Pavilion. For his final government commission in 1938, he painted five large murals [for the amphitheater of the Paris Faculty of Pharmacy], which he completed just before his death in La Seyne-sur-Mer. Four of these large murals, rich in subtleties and featuring vibrant colors, were reinstalled within the Faculty of Pharmacy itself following their restoration in 2022, thanks to a heritage restoration program.

The Venice Biennale paid tribute to him in 1938 by dedicating an entire room to his work.

“ “One can explain how Charles Dufresne—who, by virtue of his age, belongs to the Fauvist generation and, through his early major successes, is very directly linked to Cubism—represents an extremely skillful and interesting synthesis of the two movements.”