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Lot Essay
La Douane de mer was painted by Signac in 1908, during his second visit to Venice, which had seduced him since his first trip in 1904. The Serenissima fascinated him as the true embodiment of the pointillist aesthetic. From the iconographic point of view, the city offered a wealth of spectacular vistas, perfectly suited to post-Impressionist interpretations; on the stylistic side, Signac could pursue his experiments towards an exuberant 'libration des couleurs', which he had theorised since the mid-1890s, and which found its climax in his depictions of the Mediterranean ports.
In his Venetian canvases, Signac focused his attention on the mesmerising chromatic contrasts produced by the extraordinary skies and powerful reflections in the waters surrounding the city. His experiments with brushstroke and colour reached a new dimension in his Venetian canvases. 'Cette immersion dans la nuance va mme ramener la dgradation des couleurs jusqu' une teinte globale qui domine le tableau, notamment dans les vues de Venise, de Rotterdam et d'Istanbul. Cette coloration est pourtant le rsultat d'une chelle chromatique riche et mouvante - elle ne va prendre naissance qu' partir des valeurs prismatiques de cette chelle, en se rapprochant de manire continue par example d'un bleu clairci. Plutt que de rduire l'attention d'entre par une tonalit attnue, cet affinement rducteur la suscite plus face l'action en retrait de la couleur' (E. Franz, Signac et la libration de la couleur. De Matisse Mondrian, Paris, 1997, p. 30).
In this picture, Signac immortalised the Dogana di mare (fig.2), the Baroque Customs House, built at the entrance to the Grand Canal by the Italian architect Benoni between 1676 and 1682, and crowned by a weather-vane of a Fortuna, seen standing on a gilded globe supported by two telamones. Captured in the distance on the Riva degli Schiavoni - almost an apparition on the fragmented pointillist horizon - is the imposing faade of Palladio's famous Redentore. The perspective is daringly foreshortened, and the Canale della Giudecca, by virtue of the exceptional angle adopted by Signac, appears extremely close to the Punta della Dogana.
Mme. Franoise Cachin has kindly confirmed the authenticity of this painting.
In his Venetian canvases, Signac focused his attention on the mesmerising chromatic contrasts produced by the extraordinary skies and powerful reflections in the waters surrounding the city. His experiments with brushstroke and colour reached a new dimension in his Venetian canvases. 'Cette immersion dans la nuance va mme ramener la dgradation des couleurs jusqu' une teinte globale qui domine le tableau, notamment dans les vues de Venise, de Rotterdam et d'Istanbul. Cette coloration est pourtant le rsultat d'une chelle chromatique riche et mouvante - elle ne va prendre naissance qu' partir des valeurs prismatiques de cette chelle, en se rapprochant de manire continue par example d'un bleu clairci. Plutt que de rduire l'attention d'entre par une tonalit attnue, cet affinement rducteur la suscite plus face l'action en retrait de la couleur' (E. Franz, Signac et la libration de la couleur. De Matisse Mondrian, Paris, 1997, p. 30).
In this picture, Signac immortalised the Dogana di mare (fig.2), the Baroque Customs House, built at the entrance to the Grand Canal by the Italian architect Benoni between 1676 and 1682, and crowned by a weather-vane of a Fortuna, seen standing on a gilded globe supported by two telamones. Captured in the distance on the Riva degli Schiavoni - almost an apparition on the fragmented pointillist horizon - is the imposing faade of Palladio's famous Redentore. The perspective is daringly foreshortened, and the Canale della Giudecca, by virtue of the exceptional angle adopted by Signac, appears extremely close to the Punta della Dogana.
Mme. Franoise Cachin has kindly confirmed the authenticity of this painting.