In 1895, at age 18, he began taking evening art classes at Le Havre's École des Beaux-Arts, taught by Charles Lhuillier, a former student of the French portrait painter Ingres.

In 1900, after a year of military service, Dufy won a scholarship to the École Nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he again crossed paths with Othon Friesz (who was also there when Georges Braque was studying).

Dufy focused on improving his drawing skills, influenced by impressionist landscape painters such as Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro.

Dufy continued to paint, often in the vicinity of Le Havre, particularly on the beach at Sainte-Adresse, made famous by its association with artists Eugène Boudin and Claude Monet.

Henri Matisse's Luxe, Calme et Volupté, which Dufy saw at the Salon des Independents in 1905, directed his interests towards Fauvism.

This distinctive style encompassed the arrangement of skeletal structures using foreshortened perspective, coupled with the application of rapid, thin color washes.

In his oils and watercolors, he frequently depicted contemporary scenes, including yachting events, elegant social gatherings, and views of the French Riviera.

For the 1937 Exposition Internationale in Paris, Dufy produced "La Fée Electricité," one of the largest paintings of its time, an expansive and widely acclaimed work celebrating electricity, executed in oil on plywood.