Antibes, The towers

Antibes, The Towers (1911) depicts the medieval towers of the Grimaldi castle above the Antibes seafront, a subject that combined historic military architecture with Mediterranean coastal light. Signac had been visiting Antibes since his early explorations of the Côte d'Azur, and by 1911 was familiar with the town's distinctive combination of old fortifications and brilliant southern light. The imposing tower forms gave him a strong architectural structure around which to organise divisionist colour. Albertina, Vienna.

The medieval towers are rendered in warm stone tones of ochre and rose mosaic patches, their mass contrasted with the deep blue of sea and sky. The horizontal sea below and vertical towers above establish a clear compositional structure within which Signac deploys freely applied colour patches.