Le phare d'Antibes

The lighthouse at Antibes, Cap d'Antibes, was a subject Signac could approach from his regular working base on the Riviera — he was one of the first French painters to take the Côte d'Azur as a sustained working ground rather than a holiday destination, and his Antibes lighthouse images are part of a systematic record of the coast's navigational infrastructure alongside its scenic beauty. Lighthouses at Antibes appeared in multiple Signac canvases over his career, each varying in atmospheric conditions, time of day, or compositional approach.

The lighthouse's white form against the Mediterranean sky exploits the complementary contrast between the warm-white stone (absorbing and re-emitting warm sunlight) and the cool blue-violet of the sky. Signac's dots in the lighthouse tower mix pure white with warm yellow and cool blue-grey, producing an optically luminous white that pure pigment cannot achieve.