Dufy famously never named his great decor La Fée Électricité. Dressed in a white toga iridescent with the colours of the rainbow, and flying through the sky as she brings electricity to a world symbolised by the capitals of the two hemispheres, this character is none other than Iris, messenger of the Gods. In a dual act of benefaction she brings sound and light. 

Visuel de la fresque (détail)

Goddess of the rainbow, Iris brings the world to life: all the capitals light up at night, from Tokyo to Washington, from Leningrad to Cape Cod, from Constantinople to Jerusalem, from Athens to Rio de Janeiro to Montevideo, from Stockholm to Algiers, from Baghdad to New York. At the centre is Paris, recognisable by the Eiffel Tower and the Champs Elysées as Iris passes through, following the course of time. In all Dufy silhouetted some fifty capitals. 

Visuel de la fresque (détail)

The beam of light – perhaps the Ouessant lighthouse installed in front of the electricity pavilion and illuminating Paris every night – swathes part of each city in yellow, leaving the other part in a partial darkness covered with a purplish tint like Iris’s face.

Visuel de la fresque (scène concernée)