The Spirit of Electricity

Raoul Dufy was commissioned to create a monumental mural painting, The Spirit of Electricity, for the Paris International Exposition of Art and Technology in Modern Life in 1937. To prepare for the mural, he painted the full composition in watercolor and gouache on paper. Today the composition is preserved on five canvases - all in the Detroit Institute of Arts' collection - that can be exhibited together.

Moving from right to left, Dufy told the store of electricity, beginning with the natural world of ancient Greece and continuing to his own era. One hundred philosophers, scientists, and inventors of the distant and recent past appear in the lower band. In this, the concluding panel at the left, the flying figure of Iris, one of the messengers of the gods, invites visitors to the exposition to a future full of promise thanks to electricity and scientific progress. She carries this message from France to the entire world, as indicated by famous buildings such as St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament in London, the skyscrapers of New York City, and the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. In the lower right, Dufy painted Marie Curie (1867-1934) together with her husband, Pierre Curie (1859-1906). Marie Curie received the Noble Prize twice, and is the only woman included in the mural. Other scientists and inventors in this section include American inventor Thomas Edison (1847-1931); German physicist Heinrich Hertz (1857-1894); American developer of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922); and the French General Gustave Ferrie (1868-1932), who developed the French wireless telegraph system.

The complete drawing is almost 20 feet (6 meters) long. The final mural painting is ten times larger, measuring 197 feet (60 meters) long and 33 feet (10 meters) high. It was installed in the Pavillion of Light and Electricity at the exposition, together with large circuit breakers and electrical generators. Today it can be seen in the Musee d'art moderne de Paris (City of Paris Museum of Modern Art).