View of the Seine

While Signac's early works were impressionistic, he later developed the technique of pointillism, together with George Seurat, and in the last years of his life adopted a freer style bordering on the abstract. The balanced composition of the present drawing bestows upon it a calm, serene atmosphere. It depicts the Square du Vert Galant, a wedge-like projection at the tip of the Ile de la Cité near the Pont Neuf, cut off from the bustle of the city. A veteran sailor, Signac frequently included in his works depictions of seashores, harbors, and riversides – in particular the Seine. By painting the clouds flowing in harmony with the foliage and the leaves floating along the stream, Signac subsumes all the objects in the painting under a unifying textural treatment.