A leader in neo-impressionism, Signac is also recognized as the master of watercolor, a genre to which he devoted himself during the last fifteen years of his life, with the sea at the center of his work …
- Selection of works currently available | Read more
- Signac, leader of impressionism | Read more
- Videos : “One minute with Albert Marquet”, by Florence Chibret-Plaussu | Watch the videos
- One minute with Paul Signac | Watch the video
- One minute with Signac and its Ports de France | Watch the video
- Latest exhibitions | Read more
Selection of works by Paul Signac currently available
Watercolors
La Seine à Samois
1900
Watercolor
16,5 x 24,2 cm
Le Trieux
c.1923
Watercolor
27,8 x 46 cm
Venise. San Giorgio vu de l’escalier du pont de Veneta marina
1904
Watercolor
19,5 x 25 cm
Paimpol, Goélettes au port
1924
Watercolor
28 x 46,5 cm
Port-Louis, les sardiniers
Circa 1920
Watercolor on paper
Signed and located lower left
28,3 x 37 cm
Inks
Paris, la Seine au Pont Marie
c.1925
Wash
20,8 x 26 cm
Le Port de La Rochelle
Ink
11 x 16 cm
Price upon request. Contact us
Signac, leader of neo-impressionism
Signac painted in the Impressionist manner until his meeting with Seurat, a capital turning point in his work. The following year he met Pissarro and Félix Fénéon, an art critic and the future aditor of La Revue Blanche and inventor of the term Néo-Impressionism – the movement of which both Seurat and Signac were the ultimate representatives.
As early as 1886 he adopted the divisionist technique and helped it to evolve. He developed his large oil compositions in the workshop and progessively evolved towards watercolours to which he eventually dedicated himself entirely.
The sea occupies the major role is his work. A sailor at heart, he owned 32 boats over the course of his life. In 1892 he adopted the port of Saint Tropez which he painted from on board his boat.
Marked by Japanese prints unitl 1900, he underlined his dots with a black line. From 1902 onwards, his watercolours prefigured fauvism and the liberation of colour which Matisse, under the influence of Signac and Cross, continued.
If he remained faithful to rigourous divisionism in his oils, his watercolours gave free reign to his natural vivacity. He virtuously painted the changing universe of port life and the lapping of the sea. As unique drafts, watercolours leave no room for mistakes but do allow for freer and more spontaneous fragmentation. His collection of watercolours, the diary of a tireless traveller, a complete tour of France’s ports is, in itself, a monument. He is a Master of this genre.
Videos
“One minute with Paul Signac”
“One minute with Paul Signac and its Ports de France”
Latest exhibitions
2021
Galerie de la Présidence
From June 7 to July 17 2021
Signac, Aquarelles
Consult the catalogue
See the page dedicated to this exhibition
2018
Musée Yves Brayer, Les Baux-de-Provence
From May 19th to September 2nd 2018
Paul Signac (1863-1935) : Lumière du Midi
Galerie de la Présidence lends works to this exhibition.
Read more about this exhibition
Read more about our loans to museums in 2018
2011
- “Signac les ports de France” in the Musée Malraux in Le Havre then in the Piscine-musée d’art et d’industrie André Diligent in Roubaix.
2001
- “Paul Signac” at the Grand-Palais – Paris
- “Signac le marin” at Galerie de la Présidence
