1886 -1935 · Barfleur, Concarneau, La Rochelle and Antibes by sea

A sailor as much as a painter, Signac transforms each port into a chromatic stopover: pier, lighthouse, sails and basin are ordered like a score of directions and colors.

Paul Signac learned the coast by sailing. Successive owner of numerous boats, he traveled the English Channel, the Atlantic, the Mediterranean and European ports. Barfleur, Concarneau, La Rochelle, Marseille, Rotterdam or Saint-Tropez are not simple destinations: each offers a configuration of piers, lighthouses, ponds and sails. Barfleur, the port combines Norman stone and changing light. Concarneau recalls the neo-impressionist marines of 1891 to whom Signac sometimes gives musical titles. The Entrance to the port of La Rochelle depicts the neo-impressionist marines of 1891 to whom Signac sometimes gives musical titles. The Entrance to the port of La Rochelle depicts the passage between towers, channel and sea. In Antibes, the small port of Bacon opens with Mediterranean clarity more frank. Signac met Seurat in 1884 and adopted the division of colors. After the death of his friend, he became the main theorist of the movement and published D'Eugène Delacroix in neo-impressionism in 1899. His method nevertheless evolved: small regular dots were followed by wider rectangular touches, then watercolor became central. When traveling, he took quick notations before building certain oils in the workshop. The port provides this freedom with a firm framework. Masts and quays stabilize the reflections, while the sails give the pool its mobility and its opening towards elsewhere. The "Ports de Paul Signac" selection notably compares Barfleur, the port and Concarneau, the port. Its reading favors the material.

For Signac, the port is both arrival and promise of departure: the pier constructs the image, but each sail opens it towards another horizon.