Dépôt de pavés à Montmartre [Paysage à la charrette]

Maximilien Luce's view of a cobblestone depot in Montmartre is an early example of his mature Neo-Impressionist style, developed under the direct influence of Georges Seurat and Paul Signac. Luce was unique among the Neo-Impressionists in his consistent focus on working-class urban subjects: laborers, industrial landscapes, and the banlieues of Paris. Montmartre in the late 1880s was still a site of quarrying and construction as much as artistic bohemia, and Luce's willingness to treat a pile of paving stones and a work cart as a legitimate subject reflects his anarchist politics — the dignification of labor and the industrial city as worthy of aesthetic attention.

Luce applies the pointillist dot-matrix technique with dense regularity, building the scene from small strokes of pure color that blend optically at distance. His palette is cool and earthy: grey-blues, ochres, and the green of foliage contrast against the rough stone pavement.