Through the foliage of a spreading tree we can make out the silhouette of a monumental brick viaduct, probably the one at Barentin in Normandy, on the Paris-Saint-Lazare–Le Havre railway line that the artist, who was born in Le Havre, used to travel on. 

Visuel de la fresque (détail)

From 1925 onwards, the viaduct became a decorative element for the hangings he made for the couturier Paul Poiret, then for the painted decoration for the Weisweillers’ Villa L’Altana (1926–1927), and finally for the Aubusson tapestry Le Bel été of 1941. As always – following in the footsteps of Claude Lorrain – he transformed a classical icon, in this case the circular temple of the Sibyl at Tivoli, into a modern reference.

Claude Lorrain, Landscape with the Father of Psyche Sacrificing at the Milesian Temple of Apollo (1663), Anglesey Abbey, Wicken Lode National Trust

Associated with the viaduct, the work of the vineyard: we see a horse and cart transporting two barrels followed by a grape-picker, two cartwrights making a barrel and a large vat propped against the viaduct; the pickers pour the grapes into the vat for treading. The return to this subject, previously drawn by Dufy during his travels in Burgundy in the 1930s, demanded a great deal of study and meticulous drawing to get the movements right. In addition, the workers are bare-chested and wearing trousers, rather than the draped tunics of antiquity: Dufy is carefully depicting his time, even if these works are timeless.

Visuel de la fresque (détail)