Signac’s variety of brushstrokes – dots, dabs and dashes – helps to suggest different textures and also gives the composition here a visual energy, an optical quiver. The pale grey of the primed canvas is evident between strokes, especially in the water and sky, creating a silvery mid tone and a sense of the work being rapidly made. Drawn lines at the water’s edge and the crest of the hill, as well as the thoughtful use of colours opposite each other on the colour wheel (like orange and blue in the reflection of the foliage), reveal the artist’s careful planning.
Paul Signac
French 1863–1935
View of the Seine at Herblay 1889 (detail)
oil on canvas
33.3 x 46.4 cm
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Gift of Mrs. Charles Sumner Bird (Julia Appleton Bird) (1980.367)
© 2025 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Reproduced with permission. All Rights Reserved.
