Paul Signac

A painter and theorist of Neo-impressionism, also known as Pointillism, Paul Signac became the movement’s leader and principal spokesperson after the death of Georges Seurat in 1891. In Pointillist technique, pure colors of paint are applied separately in small dots or strokes, so that the colors combine in the beholder’s eye (through optical mixture) rather than being mixed by the artist on the canvas. Signac became a co-founder of the Salon des Indépendants, whose annual exhibitions he helped to organize beginning in 1884. He produced mainly landscapes and harbor views, many of which depicted the then-unknown port of Saint-Tropez, where Signac purchased a house in 1893. Although his painting style is sometimes criticized for an overly theoretical or coldly mechanical approach, Signac’s pencil drawings and watercolor sketches exhibit greater spontaneity than his works in oil paint. He published many historical and theoretical texts in his lifetime, notably an account of the evolution of nineteenth-century painting titled D’Eugène Delacroix au néo-impressionnisme (Paris, 1899). This volume deeply influenced the rising generation of French artists, including André Derain and Henri Matisse.