Reflection on the Harbor of Saint-Tropez:
Signac Renders Water in Watercolor
Clelia Zacharias, Princeton Class of 2008
In A Sailing Boat at Anchor in the Sunset (1892), Paul Signac reveals his promise as a watercolorist, though he had taken up the medium just less than a year before. In this work on paper, a sailboat rests leisurely at anchor in the harbor of Saint-Tropez, bathing in the setting sun. Broad, smooth strokes of yellow wash across the page, sweeping out a sheltered harbor. Blue trees line the shore, casting their blue reflections upon the yellow sea. As the evening light skips across the surface of this idyllic haven, an otherwise still scene is infused with a sense of the momentary. In this early watercolor, Signac magnificently captures the movement of light across water and thus uncovers a flair for the enchanting medium in which he would come to produce his finest works.
It is in watercolors such as these that turn of the century French artist Paul Signac most successfully captures the transient nature of light as it reflects across the water’s surface. A disciple of the better-known Georges Seurat, Signac first learned to paint in the demanding style of Divisionism, a technique that divides color into small dots in an effort to enhance the optical effects of light (Scheps VI). Although this technique was expressly designed to depict the nuances of light, it is not Signac’s Divisionist oil paintings but his more spontaneous watercolors that most successfully embody the lively play of light on water. More specifically, Signac’s depictions of water in his oil paintings of Saint-Tropez feel flat, contrived and monotonous, characteristics that are antithetical to the spontaneous nature of both light and water. His watercolors, on the other hand, capture this critical sense of the momentary, thereby better illustrating the dynamic interplay between light and water across the waters of the Saint-Tropez harbor. Although Signac would continue to work in both mediums for the rest of his life, the Saint-Tropez period marks the beginning of his fascination with watercolor, a medium that allowed his work to better reflected his personality. Although his watercolors often began as preliminary sketches for his finished oils, these works on paper are in fact his greatest achievements. Watercolor allowed Signac to break free from the suffocating strictures of Divisionism and better depict the play of light on water as it appears in nature.
The Exhibit
Arrival in Saint-TropezDiscovery of Watercolor
Freedom in Watercolor
Ultimate Work in Reflection
Conclusion
Works Cited
About the Author
The Gallery
Signac: A Passionate SailorSaint-Tropez: The Rise of an Artist Colony
The Ports of France
Recent Exhibitions
A Brief Biography of Paul Signac
