Les Andelys, the island of Lucas

Les Andelys, the Island of Lucas (1886) was painted in the same Norman riverside town where Signac had also worked in 1886. The island in the Seine gave him a subject of extreme horizontal calm, the still water reflecting the wooded banks and cliffs above. The year 1886 was decisive for Neo-Impressionism — the final Impressionist exhibition debuted La Grande Jatte, and Signac was working at full divisionist pitch. Minnesota Marine Art Museum.

The still water reflection is the compositional centrepiece, its horizontal surface carrying a systematic divisionist rendering of trees and sky in cooler reflected tones. The original cliffs and foliage above are handled in warmer, more saturated dots. The mirroring of composition above and below the waterline was a recurring Signac device.