Paul Signac: 11 works

'At the start of his career as an artist Signac often worked in the suburbs of Paris.'

'From the outset, Signac's landscapes depicted semi-industrial subjects -- a choice that followed naturally from his family's move to Asnieres in 1880.'

'Paul Signac was the principal follower of Seurat and also produced a large number of pointillist marine paintings. This luminous work is one of a number of ocean views Signac made during the summer of 1888 at Portrieux, a small seaside resort on the north coast of Brittany.'

'Signac was a leading practitioner of the Neo-Impressionist style originated by Georges Seurat, which abandoned the free brushwork of Impressionism in favor of a systematic application of tiny, distinct touches of pure color. Port of Saint-Cast is one of a series of four seascapes that Signac painted along the Brittany coast.'

'After studying at the Académie libre de Bing in Paris, Signac discovered Impressionist painting through Armand Guillaumin, with Paul Cézanne's, Vincent van Gogh's and Paul Gauguin's works interesting him most. Under Georges Seurat's influence, Signac got to know the Pointillist style in 1884.'

'This work depicting the port of Saint-Tropez in its entirety is one of his most monumental works of this period, providing an extreme expression of these formal changes. Signaling Signac's emergence from the Neo-impressionists and revealing intimations of the birth of Fauvism, this work represents Signac's achievements at the turn of the century.'

'Together with Georges Seurat, he developed a method of painting in tiny touches of pure color carefully placed on the canvas according to specific chromatic properties.'

'This is a work that Signac painted during his second trip to the Netherlands since 1896, and depicts a view of the Port of Rotterdam, into which the Maas flows. Vibrant colors and points with large drops cover the entire canvas equally, similar to a mosaic, indicating a style typical of Signac's late period.'

'About Le port de Rotterdam In 1906 Signac visited the port of Rotterdam and was greatly impressed. On a postcard with a harbour scene he wrote: 'From my window!'

'Signac was especially concerned with intensifiying the quantity of light in his paintings and imbuing his compositions, usually landscapes, with the pure harmony of color. In Le Pont des Arts (The Pont des Arts), he painted the view of the Île de la Cité from the right bank of the Seine like a classic veduta--featuring the Palais de Justice, Sainte-Chapelle, Notre-Dame, Pont Neuf, and Pont des Arts--a motif Signac frequently varied in 1912.'

'Signac settled in Antibes on the French Riviera in the autumn of 1913. One year later, he produced two views of the town at different times of day -- morning and evening.'