The Harbor at Concarneau

The Harbor at Concarneau (1925) is a late work from Signac's repeated visits to the Breton fishing port. By 1925 he had developed a broad, free interpretation of divisionism in which large mosaic colour squares replaced the fine dots of his early career. Concarneau's harbour, with its medieval walled town (the Ville Close) and fleet of blue-hulled fishing boats, had been a subject since the 1890s, and his late treatments bring a new freedom and vivacity to the familiar motif. Wallraf-Richartz Museum.

Large, square patches of strongly contrasted colour — cobalt blue, emerald, warm ochre, rose — are assembled with a joyful disregard for tonal modelling. The reflections in the harbour water create a shimmering grid of pure hue. The late style prioritises chromatic intensity over systematic optical theory.