One minute with Paul Signac

Good morning dear friends !

We continue our series with Paul Signac and this watercolor of an elegant freedom, completed in Venice in 1904.

From 1895, Signac practically no longer painted themes and watercolours for him were very important spontaneous representations.

Three great watercolour painters influenced him: Turner, Cézanne and Jongkind. Signac also wrote a book about Jongkind and his vision of watercolour..

Let’s discover with us “Venise, les voiles devant la Salute”…

Françoise and Florence Chibret Plaussu

 

One minute with Paul Signac

 

In 1904 Signac made his first trip to Venice. In his oils, the use of a mosaic touch – at times rectangular, at times square – became systematic, probably influenced by the mosaics of San Marco.

For Signac

‘Oil painting is a severe struggle, watercolor is a playful game’.

Thus watercolor became his favorite medium of expression.

Let us return to our watercolor.

With virtuosity and spontaneity it evokes the changing universe of water and light. Since the cupolas of Santa Maria della Salute, everything is only hinted at, suggested with such fluidity that one feels the tremors of the water.

The effect is all the more powerful as the construction is simple and fast…

Let’s admire here the quintessence of the art of an unparalleled watercolour artist.

We also wish to recommend reading an intimate book about Signac’s love lives called ‘Glissez, mortels’ by Charlotte Hellman, great-granddaughter of the painter, published in 2019 by the publisher Philippe Rey.

 

 

 

 

Venise, les voiles devant la Salute

Provenance

– Private collection, Switzerland
– Private collection, Paris

Exhibition

– « Œuvres graphiques, chefs-d’œuvre européens des collections suisses », Munich, 1969, n°130.
Attestation of Marina Ferretti, co-author of the Catalogue Raisonné, in charge of the Archives Signac.

 

Price upon request. Contact us.

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