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Paul Signac
(1863-1935)
Port St. Tropez
An Impressionist
and founding member of the Divisionists, Paul Signac was
also a leader in the use of Pointilism. Head of the
Neo-Impressionists after the death of Georges Seurat,
Signac utilized science to create his paintings and knew
the importance of light and structure.
While Signac is well-known for paving the frontier for
Pointillism, what many don't realize is that Signac was
a prolific sketcher, and did etches, lithographs,
watercolors and many pen and ink compositions. Signac
left behind a number of watercolors of seascapes, many
of them being of famous ports like Marseille, Istanbul
and Venice. This was inspired by Signac's love of the
sea, as he was an avid sailor. Through his journeys,
Signac was able to collect vibrant colors from all over
the Mediterranean and it reflected in his work.
There are many ways to tell whether you have an original
Signac or not. Signac had little or no formal training,
and trained himself to paint by studying the style of
Monet, therefore Signac's work is slightly reflective of
Monet's. Another telltale way to verify a Signac work is
to examine the colors post 1884. This is when he began
to work with Signac and they both rejected the idea of
"muddied" colors. A true Signac Pointillism piece is
composed of only true, vibrant hues "dotted" in such a
way that the viewers eye sees shading or muted colors.
Throughout his life, Signac was also an enthusiastic
supporter of Socialism, and his political leanings often
were reflected in his work. For example, "Le Demolisseur"
depicts a laborer with a pick-axe, and is said to
represent Signac's Socialist views.
Le Demolisseur, 1899
Signac also had a
series of oil paintings done in Pointilism from
1889-1893 that were based on operas and musical pieces.
The bulk of these paintings were done in the summer of
1891, and were called "Symphonic Seas: Oceans of
Liberty" ("La Mer, Les Barques"). His idea was to
capture a particular piece of music and illustrate it to
complement and parallel the ripples in the sea.
Therefore, all of these paintings were seascapes, and
had a distinctly different look than anything else
Signac ever did. These pieces were practically
photographic in nature (like his 1891 work Scherezo),
and seemed to rely less on Impressionistic ideals. It is
said that he painted around 21 of these in the series,
but there could be more somewhere due to the fact that
they are not true to Signac's style at the time.
Another interesting view on Signac is how similarly his
style and paintings mirrored his friend and mentor
Seurat. In particular, Signac's oil painting "Breakfast
in the Dining Room" (1886) echoes Seurat's "Sunday in
the Park on the Island of Grande Jatte" (1884). The two
most dominant women (the maid and the woman with the
parasol) in these paintings are very similar in stature,
placement on the canvas and appearance. This may lead
one to believe that Signac and Seurat had a hand in each
other's work, or the work of other lesser-known
Pointillism students of the time. Perhaps the mystery
lies in this duplicated profile of the woman.
Breakfast in the Dining Room
Signac was also known
for his support of up and coming art forms of his time,
like Cubism and Fauvism (he was the first person to ever
purchase a Matisse!) It was during this time that Signac
began to reject "points" and instead began to use small
squares of color, which created a mosaic-like effect,
such as "Arc du Ciel, Venise". This would be another
tell-tale way of deciphering whether you have a Signac
or not; look for a mosaic-style if it was painted after
the turn of the century. Also, look for his signature
"P. Signac" in the lower left corner of his works.
Currently, Signac's oil paintings are being sold for
upwards of $500,000 on on-line auctions, and his work "Vue
de Port", a watercolor and black chalk sea sketch is set
for auction at Christie's starting at $18,000. Sotheby's
also has Signac work currently set for auction. His oil
painting "Les Andelys, Les Lauveueses" is starting at
2.4 million. It is not known how many works this
prolific artists has in his oeuvre.
