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The Port of Saint-Tropez
Paul Signac · Post-Impressionism & Neo-Impressionism
- Artist
- Paul Signac (1863–1935)
- Date
- 1901
- Dimensions
- 131 x 161.5 cm
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Location
- National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, Japan
The Port of Saint-Tropez shows the harbour of the small Mediterranean fishing town on a bright day, with sailing boats moored along the quay, their masts and reflections rising and falling in the calm water, and the pale houses of the town behind.
A closer look
Signac first sailed into Saint-Tropez in 1892 and settled there, long before it became famous. By 1901 his Neo-Impressionist technique had changed: instead of Seurat's tiny dots, he used larger, square strokes of pure colour placed side by side like the tiles of a mosaic. Orange, pink, violet and blue vibrate together to create a shimmering, luminous surface. The painting is both a careful record of the port and a decorative composition of rhythmic colour, close to the Fauvist works that young painters such as Matisse would soon make there.
More by Paul Signac
In this gallery
Famous works elsewhere
- Golfe Juan 1896
- Deux stylistes Rue du Caire 1885
- Les Démolisseurs 1896
- Capo di Noli, near Genoa 1898
- Port de Marseilles 1907
- Au temps d'harmonie 1895