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Lot Essay
Painted in 1886, Les Andelys, les bains (Opus no. 137, Les bains à Lucas) marks a momentous period in Paul Signac’s oeuvre. Beginning in the spring of that year, Signac began to explore a more regimented approach within his canvases. Having embraced Impressionism for several years, the present work announced a tremendous shift in the artist’s practice: away from the lively impressionistic touches and towards the radical and methodical technique of Pointilism.
Shortly before completing the present work, Signac participated in the eighth and final Impressionist group exhibition, where his novel Neo-Impressionist paintings were first shown publicly. These were displayed alongside Georges Seurat’s Un dimanche après-midi à l'Île de la Grande Jatte and collectively, the canvases heralded a new art movement, what would come to be known as Neo-Impressionism.
Signac and Seurat first met in 1884 while organizing the inaugural Salon des Artistes Indépendants, and a rich artistic exchange and strong friendship soon followed. Both Signac and Seurat enthusiastically took up chromatic explorations rooted in the physics of light and the psychology of perception. They hoped that by thoroughly understanding how colors interacted with one another they could bring an optical vibrancy to their images. Shedding light on these effects, Signac wrote in his landmark 1899 treatise D’Eugéne Delacroix au néo-impressionnisme: “It guarantees the integral harmony of the work by the proportion and balance of these elements, depending on the rules of contrast, shading and radiance. It is a precise and scientific method, which does not enfeeble sensation, but guides and protects it” (quoted in in C. Harrison and P. Wood, eds., Art in Theory 1900-1990: An Anthology of Changing Ideas, Oxford, 1997, p. 22). Critics visiting the eighth Impressionist exhibition were intrigued by what they saw in Signac’s canvases, noting, in particular, their chromatic vibrancy. As Paul Adam wrote, “Among the other pictures, his proclaim an intensity of colors, with a richness that is specifically his own” (quoted in M. Ferretti-Bocquillon, exh. cat., op. cit., 2001, p. 107).
Following the exhibition, Signac relocated to Les Andelys, a small, bucolic commune not far from Giverny. While he had previously summered along the Channel coast, taking up residence in towns such as Saint-Briac, in 1886 he elected to stay closer to Paris, likely because he was on the hanging committee for the Société des Artists Indépendants, whose second exhibition was to open in August. Enthusiastic about the motifs he encountered in Les Andelys, Signac wrote about them to Seurat. The latter’s wry response speaks to Signac’s fervor for all things color: “You see Les Andelys as colorful. I see the Seine [as] an almost indefinable grey sea, even under the strongest sun and blue sky” (quoted in ibid., p. 121).
As Signac had previously demonstrated during summer sojourns, he was drawn to water subjects. Les Andelys, les bains depicts a wide expanse of the Seine illuminated by the late summer sun. Touches of deep green and pale gold describe the surface reflections playing across the tranquil water. In the foreground floats a solitary red boat, its vertical decorative accents balancing the horizontal expanse of the composition. Purple hues define the shadows that fall across the town’s rooftops, and the light is gilded and warm, imbuing everything with the languid quality of a late afternoon. While evoking grand, open space and a sense of distance, the overall effect of the painting is akin to the Japanese Ukiyo-e prints that were popular during this period, with an a-hierarchical, all-over quality, that embraces the decorative.
Works from Signac’s series at Les Andelys, including the present painting as well as Les Andelys, Port Morin (Opus no. 136), (Lot 62 in this sale), were displayed as part of the Société des Artists Indépendants’ exhibition and were met with great acclaim. In his review in L’Art moderne, Félix Fénéon wrote, “The most recent ones are also the most luminous and complete. The colors provoke each other to mad chromatic flights—they exult, shout!” (ibid., p. 121). Several works painted that summer are held in museum collections worldwide, including Les Andelys. Château-Gaillard (Cachin, no. 120; The Nelson-Aitkins Museum of Art, Kansas City), Les Andelys. Côte d’aval (Cachin, no. 125; The Art Institute of Chicago), Les Andelys. Le Quai (Cachin, no. 126; Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena), and Les Andelys. La Berge (Cachin, no. 128; Musée d’Orsay, Paris).
Signac dedicated and then gifted Les Andelys, les bains to his friend, the painter, Camille Pissarro, who kept the work as part of his personal collection for the rest of his life. The painting was sold as part of his estate sale in 1928.
Shortly before completing the present work, Signac participated in the eighth and final Impressionist group exhibition, where his novel Neo-Impressionist paintings were first shown publicly. These were displayed alongside Georges Seurat’s Un dimanche après-midi à l'Île de la Grande Jatte and collectively, the canvases heralded a new art movement, what would come to be known as Neo-Impressionism.
Signac and Seurat first met in 1884 while organizing the inaugural Salon des Artistes Indépendants, and a rich artistic exchange and strong friendship soon followed. Both Signac and Seurat enthusiastically took up chromatic explorations rooted in the physics of light and the psychology of perception. They hoped that by thoroughly understanding how colors interacted with one another they could bring an optical vibrancy to their images. Shedding light on these effects, Signac wrote in his landmark 1899 treatise D’Eugéne Delacroix au néo-impressionnisme: “It guarantees the integral harmony of the work by the proportion and balance of these elements, depending on the rules of contrast, shading and radiance. It is a precise and scientific method, which does not enfeeble sensation, but guides and protects it” (quoted in in C. Harrison and P. Wood, eds., Art in Theory 1900-1990: An Anthology of Changing Ideas, Oxford, 1997, p. 22). Critics visiting the eighth Impressionist exhibition were intrigued by what they saw in Signac’s canvases, noting, in particular, their chromatic vibrancy. As Paul Adam wrote, “Among the other pictures, his proclaim an intensity of colors, with a richness that is specifically his own” (quoted in M. Ferretti-Bocquillon, exh. cat., op. cit., 2001, p. 107).
Following the exhibition, Signac relocated to Les Andelys, a small, bucolic commune not far from Giverny. While he had previously summered along the Channel coast, taking up residence in towns such as Saint-Briac, in 1886 he elected to stay closer to Paris, likely because he was on the hanging committee for the Société des Artists Indépendants, whose second exhibition was to open in August. Enthusiastic about the motifs he encountered in Les Andelys, Signac wrote about them to Seurat. The latter’s wry response speaks to Signac’s fervor for all things color: “You see Les Andelys as colorful. I see the Seine [as] an almost indefinable grey sea, even under the strongest sun and blue sky” (quoted in ibid., p. 121).
As Signac had previously demonstrated during summer sojourns, he was drawn to water subjects. Les Andelys, les bains depicts a wide expanse of the Seine illuminated by the late summer sun. Touches of deep green and pale gold describe the surface reflections playing across the tranquil water. In the foreground floats a solitary red boat, its vertical decorative accents balancing the horizontal expanse of the composition. Purple hues define the shadows that fall across the town’s rooftops, and the light is gilded and warm, imbuing everything with the languid quality of a late afternoon. While evoking grand, open space and a sense of distance, the overall effect of the painting is akin to the Japanese Ukiyo-e prints that were popular during this period, with an a-hierarchical, all-over quality, that embraces the decorative.
Works from Signac’s series at Les Andelys, including the present painting as well as Les Andelys, Port Morin (Opus no. 136), (Lot 62 in this sale), were displayed as part of the Société des Artists Indépendants’ exhibition and were met with great acclaim. In his review in L’Art moderne, Félix Fénéon wrote, “The most recent ones are also the most luminous and complete. The colors provoke each other to mad chromatic flights—they exult, shout!” (ibid., p. 121). Several works painted that summer are held in museum collections worldwide, including Les Andelys. Château-Gaillard (Cachin, no. 120; The Nelson-Aitkins Museum of Art, Kansas City), Les Andelys. Côte d’aval (Cachin, no. 125; The Art Institute of Chicago), Les Andelys. Le Quai (Cachin, no. 126; Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena), and Les Andelys. La Berge (Cachin, no. 128; Musée d’Orsay, Paris).
Signac dedicated and then gifted Les Andelys, les bains to his friend, the painter, Camille Pissarro, who kept the work as part of his personal collection for the rest of his life. The painting was sold as part of his estate sale in 1928.