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Lot Essay
Painted in 1930, Pont des arts, Inondation is a vibrant, light-filled view of the French capital that shows Signac's pointillisme used to great effect. For Signac, the meticulous composition and construction of his paintings meant that they took a great deal of time to execute. In the present work, the careful and calculated manner in which Signac has painted the scene makes it clear why his paintings took so long to create. Here, each tessera-like brushstroke of bright color pushes another well-judged brushstroke into bolder relief. Signac has painstakingly rendered the surface of this work by juxtaposing darting brushstrokes of color against each other, revealing the continued importance of Neo-Impressionist techniques to his painting; and yet this is a highly painterly cityscape. The artist's enjoyment of his medium is clear in the enthusiasm with which he has painted this scene, which itself translates into the colorful energy of the picture itself. While this picture has taken a great deal of time and concentration to create, it nonetheless has the appearance of spontaneity, breathing with a sense of life and movement, an effect that is heightened by the shimmering, contrasting brushstrokes of pure color.
Signac spent much of his time in Paris when he was not touring the countryside or traveling from port to port. Many of his landscapes from the death of Seurat in 1891 onwards showed harbor scenes, a reflection of the amount of time he spent sailing on his yachts; in a sense, this view of the Seine and the Pont des Arts in Paris allows Signac to explore one of his favorite motifs: water. Where usually in his paintings, the water is that of the sea, here too he explores its complications and effects, capturing through his deft use of blocks of varying greens, blues and whites each eddy, each boat's wake, each shadow-like reflection. In the background stretches the bridge of the title, an edifice that must have played an almost daily role in his life in Paris as it was so close to the apartment he had bought in 1919 for himself, his partner Jeanne Selmersheim-Desgrange, and their daughter Ginette. This was his base in Paris, housing his phenomenal collection of pictures, many of which were by artists he himself had known and supported. It was from here that he conducted much of his business, as he had become a focal point and figurehead for many groups, artistic or political.
The Pont des Arts (which was rebuilt in the 1980s in such a manner as to conserve the appearance and character of the bomb- and collision-damaged original) was a logical theme, a natural choice, for a painter such as Signac, not least as it would have provided him with a direct route to the Louvre. The bridges of Paris had long interested the artist: in 1911, he had participated in an exhibition, with Aristide Maillol, entitled Les Ponts de Paris. The Pont des Arts itself had featured in his 1912 picture Le Pont des Arts (Cachin, no. 493), now in the Museum Folkwang, Essen, and he would return to the theme three years later in Pont des Arts. Automne (Cachin, no. 582), now in the Musée du Petit Palais, Paris. Each of these pictures has been taken from a slightly different viewpoint, with a different composition. In the present work, Signac has deliberately zoomed in on the scene to capture a smaller section of the bridge and neighboring trees.
Signac spent much of his time in Paris when he was not touring the countryside or traveling from port to port. Many of his landscapes from the death of Seurat in 1891 onwards showed harbor scenes, a reflection of the amount of time he spent sailing on his yachts; in a sense, this view of the Seine and the Pont des Arts in Paris allows Signac to explore one of his favorite motifs: water. Where usually in his paintings, the water is that of the sea, here too he explores its complications and effects, capturing through his deft use of blocks of varying greens, blues and whites each eddy, each boat's wake, each shadow-like reflection. In the background stretches the bridge of the title, an edifice that must have played an almost daily role in his life in Paris as it was so close to the apartment he had bought in 1919 for himself, his partner Jeanne Selmersheim-Desgrange, and their daughter Ginette. This was his base in Paris, housing his phenomenal collection of pictures, many of which were by artists he himself had known and supported. It was from here that he conducted much of his business, as he had become a focal point and figurehead for many groups, artistic or political.
The Pont des Arts (which was rebuilt in the 1980s in such a manner as to conserve the appearance and character of the bomb- and collision-damaged original) was a logical theme, a natural choice, for a painter such as Signac, not least as it would have provided him with a direct route to the Louvre. The bridges of Paris had long interested the artist: in 1911, he had participated in an exhibition, with Aristide Maillol, entitled Les Ponts de Paris. The Pont des Arts itself had featured in his 1912 picture Le Pont des Arts (Cachin, no. 493), now in the Museum Folkwang, Essen, and he would return to the theme three years later in Pont des Arts. Automne (Cachin, no. 582), now in the Musée du Petit Palais, Paris. Each of these pictures has been taken from a slightly different viewpoint, with a different composition. In the present work, Signac has deliberately zoomed in on the scene to capture a smaller section of the bridge and neighboring trees.