Dufy attended night classes at art school while working. Stimulated by Matisse’s work, he decided to become a Fauvist and established his own style using bright colors and lissome lines. Grown up in a musical family he often included musical instruments and scores in his paintings, but only began addressing the orchestra as his subject from about 1942. Dufy frequently at tended orchestra rehearsals, sketching the rehearsal scene intently. In this painting, seen from a high vantage point, the performers fill the picture plane. Its sense of immediacy, rhythmical brushwork, and limpid colors give us a sense of a space filled with music.