Thonier à Concarneau

Concarneau, the Breton fishing port on the Atlantic coast, was an important subject for Signac in the late 1880s and early 1890s, providing the working maritime environment that contrasted with Saint-Tropez's more picturesque harbor. The thon (tuna) fishing fleet at Concarneau — large, dark-hulled vessels quite different from Mediterranean sailboats — gave him industrial maritime subjects in which the size and weight of the vessels created different compositional challenges than the lighter Provençal fishing boats. Signac's Concarneau paintings were exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants and established his credentials as a painter who could apply divisionist theory beyond the sunny Mediterranean.

The tuna boat's dark hull provides a strong compositional anchor, with the dark tones of the vessel contrasting with the cooler blues and greens of the surrounding water. Signac analyzes the hull's reflected colors — picking up warm light from sky and dock surfaces — with the systematic attention that divisionist theory required even of dark areas.