NOTES
Paul Signac depicted the old port of St. Tropez, in southern France, from the harbor. The scene glistens in an effect achieved with small dots of unmixed color and, significantly, the white of the paper. The tower of the village church, Nôtre-Dame-de-l’Assomption, rises in the background amid clouds that are made only of the paper itself.
The artist was among the most articulate proponents of the movement now known as Neo-Impressionism, in which color was applied to canvas or paper in small, individual units. It is the role of the viewer’s eye and brain, rather than the painter with his brush, to complete the blending of the hues. Signac drew the image on specially prepared transfer paper, which the printer would have transferred to a series of stones, one for each color.
