Venise, la voile jaune

This 1904 canvas of Venice with a yellow sail belongs to Signac's series of Venetian paintings made during visits to the city he considered among the most painterly in the world. Venice had been a magnet for French painters — Monet made famous series there in 1908 — but Signac's version uses the city's canals and architecture as vehicles for his Pointillist color theory rather than as subjects for atmospheric observation. The yellow sail against the water creates exactly the kind of complementary color interaction he favored. The Besançon canvas is a fine example of his mature decorative Pointillist style applied to Venetian subject matter.

The yellow sail is a chromatic focal point against the blues and violets of the Venetian water and sky. Signac's mosaic strokes give the scene a luminous, jeweled quality. The canal architecture is simplified into warm stone tones that recede behind the dominant color drama of sail and water.