In 1900, with the aid of a municipal grant and in the company of Othon Friesz, Dufy left his native town of Le Havre to study art in Paris. They studied at the Ecole Bonnart where they were particularly interested in the works of the Impressionists. But it was the Fauve work of Matisse at the 1905 Salon des Indépendants that inspired him. Painting in the Fauve style, Dufy and Friesz together with Braque became known as "Les Fauves Havrais".

Following the example of Monet and other Impressionists, Dufy visited St. Adresse in the summer of 1907. Choosing as his subject the local inhabitants and fishermen he executed a series of pictures of Pecheurs à la ligne including the present picture.

Coup de Vent illustrated Dufy's own sense of composition with its strong diagonal divisions created by the sloping jetty and the heightened recession caused by the exaggerated perspective of the figures. Dufy's palette of essentially non-primary colours perhaps shows the influence of the works of Cézanne and Gaguguin (they both had restrospectives at the Salon d'Automne, respectively in 1906 and 1907). This tendency already visible in the works of 1907 became more noticeable in 1908 when Dufy and Braque worked together at L'Estaque and the initial moves towards Cubism emerged.