Marcel Dyf’s real name was Marcel Dreyfus. He was born in Paris on October 1899. While he showed a talent for art at an early age, he began his adult life as an engineer. By the age of 23 years, he became a professional self-taught artist, setting up a studio in Arles in 1922. His career flourished as a landscape artist – painting views of the surrounding countryside. Much of Dyf’s influence and inspiration came from the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists; among his favourites was Pierre A. Renoir.
Soon his work began to attract attention from collectors and dealers and it was not long before he began exhibiting at the Salon des Artistes Français, Salon d’Automne and the Salon des Tuileries.
By 1935 Marcel Dyf had returned to Paris from the countryside and joined the Resistance based in Correze in World War II. Subsequently in 1950 he had set up a studio in Cannes. A few years later met a young girl by the name of Claudine. A 19-year-old at the time, some 36 years younger than Marcel, after posing for him for many years Claudine and Marcel married in 1965. They spent many years together, travelling the world in search of subject matter, spending each summer at their home in Brittany.
By this time Dyf was famed for his impressionistic landscapes, still-lives, and portraits. His paintings had been exhibited throughout the world, with Shows in England, America, Canada, Germany and Algeria. Today he is considered one of the last of the true Impressionist artists. Dyf died in September 1985.
