Rotterdam - The Steams

Rotterdam, The Steams (1906) was painted during Signac's voyage to the Netherlands, where the vast industrialised port of Rotterdam provided a subject very different from his Mediterranean harbour repertoire. Rotterdam in 1906 was one of the world's busiest shipping ports, and its steam tugs, container vessels, and industrial waterfront landscape represented the industrial sublime of modern commerce. Bringing his divisionist technique to this northern industrial subject tested its adaptability. Shimane Art Museum, Japan.

Steam and smoke are rendered as soft, light-diffusing passages of warm grey and cream dots, dissolving the industrial structures into atmospheric fields of colour. The industrial palette is warmer than his Dutch coastal work — steam and warm metal tones dominate — contrasted with cooler grey-blue water below.