The Quai Saint-Michel and Notre-Dame

Maximilien Luce's 'The Quai Saint-Michel and Notre-Dame' (1901) is one of his Paris series subjects — the quai along the Seine with the Notre-Dame cathedral as the backdrop was among the most picturesque of Parisian views, and Luce's divisionist treatment gave the familiar subject a systematic coloristic investigation. His engagement with the urban Seine subjects connected him to the broader tradition of Parisian river painting while his Neo-Impressionist technique gave the familiar subject a distinctive formal character.

Luce renders the Quai Saint-Michel with his systematic divisionist approach — the surface built from the mosaic of color touches that characterized Neo-Impressionist technique, the quality of the Paris light on the river and the cathedral depicted through the optical mixing of the divided color. His handling of the Seine's reflective surface and the atmospheric quality between the quai and the distant cathedral facade demonstrates the divisionist method applied to a celebrated Parisian subject.