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Post-Impressionism) will be hand painted by our professional artists. Let HandmadePiece help you bring better museum quality art reproductions of Paul Signac to home. Photo preview of the finished art will be offered before delivery, global free shipping.
1863 - 1935 • French • Painter • Neo-Impressionist
"By the elimination of all muddy mixtures, by the exclusive use of the optical mixture of pure colors, by a methodical divisionism and a strict observation of the scientific theory of colors, the neoimpressionist insures a maximum of luminosity, of color intensity, and of harmony-a result that has never yet been obtained." - Paul Signac
Four years younger than SEURAT, whom he met at the SALON DES INDEPENDANTS of 1884, Signac worked with Seurat to develop the art and theory of NEOIMPRESSIONISM in both his own painting and in his manifesto-like book, From Delacroix to Neo-Impressionism ( 1899 ), from which the quotation above is taken. Signac was convinced that through analyzing the color of an object, the color of the light falling on it, and the color of its reflection, he could scientifically understand and successfully manipulate the effect of color in painting. This was an intellectual exercise that fascinated other artists of his time. They compared and measured their own approaches against those of Signac. For example, MATISSE wrote, "... Signac is preoccupied by complementary colors and the theoretical knowledge of them will lead him to use a certain tone in a certain place. I, on the other hand, merely try to find a color that will fit my sensation.... As a matter of fact, I think that the theory of complementary colors is not absolute. In studying the paintings of artists whose knowledge of colors depends only upon instinct and sensibility and on a consistency of their sensations, it would be possible to define certain laws of color and so repudiate the limitations of the accepted color theory." Signac's paintings were never as inspired as Seurat's, and seem more decorative and formulaic. However, his imaginative portrait of the critic Felix Fenelon, who coined the term "Neo-Impressionism," is fascinating. Dressed as a magician, he stands in profile against a backdrop like a gigantic whirligig with bold patterns on each of its sections. The title is as decorative as the picture: Against the Enamel of a Background Rhythmic with Beats and Angles, Tones and Colors, Portrait of M. Felix Fenelon in 1890 (1890).