Paul Victor Jules Signac, also known as Paul Signac, was born on Nov 11, 1863, into a middle-class family in Paris, France. Shortly after his birth, Signac’s family relocated to the Montmartre area in the city of Paris, which had become a hub of a thriving artistic environment. This move made a significant impact on the young Signac’s attraction to visual art and, more interestingly, the avant-garde culture at that time. In his youth, Signac was drawn to the works of the impressionist. As he received enough encouragement from his liberal-minded parents, Signac started attending exhibitions and absorbing the aesthetics of Impressionism.

Impressed by Monet

When he was 16 years of age, he was impressed by the paintings of the then great Claude Monet. Once while he was in the midst of sketching one of the paintings of another famous painter, Edgar Degas, he had to face an unfriendly remark from the famous Paul Gauguin. Gauguin admonished him saying, ‘one does not copy here, Sir’. He was unceremoniously thrown out of the gallery. In the year 1980, Signac’s father died of tuberculosis.

In Search of subjects for Paintings

After his father’s death, Signac’s mother sold the property and moved to the Parisian suburb of Asnieres. As he was not happy with the new location, Signac left the school, despite being a good student, and returned to Montmartre. He rented a room and started living there. However, Signac was constantly alternating his stay between Ansieres and Paris. Though his new home in Ansieres did not prove to be an ideal setting for the budding ‘avant-garde’ artist that Signac was, he still found numerous subjects for his paintings around Asnieres. He painted the garden outside his house, the bridges of the new Parisian suburb, the banks of the Seine river, the factory smokestacks of Clichy and the industrial part of Paris.

Early Career

But for some basic training that Signac received when he was just 18 years of age in the studio of history painter, Emile Bin, which was free of charge, Signac was completely self-taught. He became deeply involved in studying the paintings of leading impressionists like Monet, Manet, Caillebotte and Degas. The coastal town of Port-en-Bessin was one of his favourite sites as subjects for painting.

Matured as a Painter

By 1884, Signac’s paintings had become eligible qualitatively to enter the first Salon des Artistes. He had, along with Odeon Redon and Albert Dubois-Pillet, become one of the founding fathers of the newly formed Salon des Artistes independents and its sponsoring organisation, ‘the Societe des Artistes Independants’. The motto of the ‘Societe’ exhibitions was to allow the artists to present their works for public judgement with complete freedom. The Contacts that he made with some of the well-known painters at the 1884 exhibition proved very important for him in his career. In the same year, Signac met impressionist artist Armand Guillaumin, in 1885, he met Camille Pissarro, both of whom gave him advice and encouragement.

Collaboration with Seurat

Signac deeply admired the paintings of Georges Seurat. Seurat had already begun making his now-famous painting ‘A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte’ (1884). After he and Signac established their new-impressionist style, Seurt reworked the large canvas extensively to utilise the new approach. By1885, Signac, Seurat and other members of the group had solidified their unique style – Neo-impressionism. They went on to develop the method which they called ‘pointillism’. Pointillism is the scientific system of applying dots.

This style became the basis of Neo-Impressionism. Both Signac and Seurat were invited to display their work in the eighth and final Impressionist exhibition despite objections to their inclusion from Eugene Manet. Signac also produced critical writing and he was the author of ‘From Eugene Delacroix to Neo-Impressiosim‘ (1899) and ‘Jongkind‘ (1927).

Association with Vincent van Gogh

Though Signac had begun creating interior scenes, including his first major one, The Milliners (1885), he still preferred landscapes, cityscapes and other outdoor scenes. The Junction at Bois Colombes and Passage du Puits Bertin, Clichy were some of the important exterior scenes painted by Signac. Signac met Vincent van Gogh in Paris in 1886 and the two artists developed a friendly working relationship. They were frequently going together to sites near and around Asnieres to paint both interiors and outdoor scenes. Van Gogh was most impressed by the loose brushwork of Signac. Signac paid a visit to Van Gogh in Aries in 1889 and taught him how to paint in the Neo-impressionist style.

His Marriage

Signac married his longtime companion, Berthe Robies, in 1892. In 1897, Signacbought a house in the South of France, in Saint-Tropez and constructed a large studio in it. It was in this studio that Signac produced some of his most colourful and celebrated works in the neo-impressionistic style. Signac died in August 1935 at the age of 71 of septicemia. In addition to an enormous body of paintings, he had also penned a number of seminal works on art theory, a monograph on Dutch painter and printmaker, Johan Barthold Jongkind.

His Prominent Paintings

The following are some of the prominent indoor and outdoor paintings of Paul Signac: ‘The Diving Room’, ‘Portrait of Felix Feneon’, ‘Woman at her toilette wearing a purple Corset’,’ Women at the Well’, ‘Sunday’, ‘The Pine Tree at St. Tropez’, ‘The House of Van Gogh (Arles, place Lamartine), ‘Red Silk Stokings’, ‘The Jetty’, ‘Le Conquet’, ‘Lighthouse at Groix’, ‘Lezardriux’, ‘Rodez’, ‘Foral Still Life’, ‘Les Andelys’, ‘Blessing of the Tuna Fleet at Groix’, Harbour Scene, (1886), etc.

10 Famous Paul Signac Paintings

1. ‘Breakast’ – This is one of the wonderful paintings produced by Signac in 1886-1887. It is a part of his genre art style. The subjec of the paitings appears to be a family setting. It depicts three individuals in a room of whom two are enjoying a drink and the third one, apparently, a servant is standing with papers in her hand.
2. ‘Women at the Well‘ – Signac painted it in 1892 and it is a piece of genre art. This painting shows three women, two drawing water and the third one walking away with pots of water in her hands.
3. ‘The Red Buoy‘ – This painting was produced in 1895. This is piece of marine art features calm and colourful waters, vessels and buildiing. It also shows a bright red floating body resembling a buoy at the forefront of the painting.
4. ‘The Papal Palace, Avignon‘ – In this painting, Signac made use of dark and moody shades while depicting waters and skies. It was painted in 1900 and was a part of the neo-impressionist movement.
5. ‘Sunday’ – This was painted in 1888-1890 and is a piece of genre art. The painting showcases a couple relaxing at home on the weekend with a feline friend.
6. ‘Grand Canal (Venice)’ – Signac painted this landscapeart featuing Grand Canal in 1905. The painting shows Venetian canals, rows of boats moored at the dock and buildings in the background.
7. ‘Van Gogh’s House‘ – It is said that Signac made a departure from the neo-impressionsimand pointillism and used a diferent technique in this painting. Signac has painted a bar at the bottom floor of the building.
8. ‘Two Milliners in the Rue du Caire (Paris)– This is a genre art piece in the neo-impressionist style. This painting shows two women, killiers, producting hats to be sold in the market and it was made in 1885-86.
9. ‘The port of Saint -Tropez’ – This painting was produced in 1899. It shows many colourful ships, lighthouses and buildings in the background.
10. ‘The Bay’ – The painting was made in 1906. Ships floating on the colourful water with multi-coloured trees dotting the hillsides are the subjet matter of the painting.
11. An Cove in Saint-Tropez (1926) and Concarneau; Sardine Boat and the old City, (1891)

From Impressionism to Pointillism

Paul Signac is one of the greatest protagonists of late nineteenth-century art. His artistic career’s most emblematic works show his initial adherence to Impressionism. Signac later abandoned the technique and gave life to Pointillism together with his friend Georges Seurat. Besides being known as a protagonist of the neo-Impressionist style, Signac also showed interest in other artistic currents. His use of dots is undoubtedly a revolutionary technique that only a few were able to understand. During this period, Signac’s love for navigation also blossomed, thanks to the painter Gustave Caillebotte.

The Pointillists uphold the theory enunciated by Eugene Chevreul on the ‘law of simultaneous contrast of colors’. According to this law, each color conditions the one that is close to it, sending its own complimentary back to it. It will be another artistic revolution. In this style, one paints by placing on the canvas touches of different colours and separate color points.