Signac: Reflections on Water

Through a selection of over 140 works, this catalogue offers a first approach to Paul Signac’s colour harmonies along with an invitation to travel. Paul Signac’s career as a painter in love with colour was just as intense as it was varied. Starting from one of the largest private collections of the artist’s works, this publication illustrates his creative journey from his early impressionist paintings until his final watercolours from the Ports de France series, also including the heroic years of Neo-Impressionism, the splendour of Saint-Tropez, and the shimmering images of Venice, Rotterdam and Constantinople. The virtuosity of the neo-impressionist master is also reflected in the diverse techniques he used: the ardour of Signac’s impressionist debut is set off against the limpid polychromies of the divisionist paintings, the daring Japonisme of his watercolours contrasts with the freedom of the sheets painted en plein air, while his large Indian ink studies reveal the secrets of calm compositions, at length contemplated in his studio.