Azul, San Sebastian

Darío de Regoyos painted Azul in San Sebastián around 1900, during the years he was developing his mature Pointillist style under the influence of his close friendship with Théo van Rysselberghe and his contacts with the Belgian Neo-Impressionist circle. San Sebastián, the Basque coastal city where Regoyos worked frequently, provided him with characteristic subjects: waterfront scenes, open skies, and the particular quality of northern Spanish coastal light. The Minneapolis Institute of Art acquired this painting as part of their engagement with Spanish Post-Impressionism, a body of work underrepresented in North American collections.

Regoyos applies his Pointillist technique to the blue-dominated scene — the title itself announces the painting's chromatic commitment. Separate touches of color build the sky and sea through optical mixture rather than blending. The technique, absorbed from Belgian Neo-Impressionists, is applied with a characteristic looseness that distinguishes Regoyos from the more systematic Seurat.