In the broad galaxy of modern French artists, we can easily spot Raoul Dufy's lightly glittering star. He was renowned as a painter of colorful scenes at St. Tropez on the Riviera. The one who designed fashion fabrics. The one who popularized modern art with glamorous subjects and a carefree brush.

Raoul Dufy's "Autoportrait au chapeau mou," oil on canvas, 1898"Le violon rouge," oil on canvas, 1941"La dame en rose," oil on canvas, 1908"Pecheur au filet," oil on canvas, 1914"Moisson du champ d'avoine," oil on canvas, 1938
Photos (C) ADAGP, PARIS, JVACS, TOKYO, 2001

But is that all? Not according to Didier Schulmann, chief curator of the collection department at the National Museum of Modern Art in Paris' Pompidou Center. "I used to have the usual superficial view of Dufy," he said while in Tokyo recently, "but now, my opinion has completely changed."