Paul Signac

Estate of the artist
Private Collection, Europe (acquired from the above in the 1950s)

The work is in very good condition. Executed on two joined sheets of cream-colored laid paper which have been professionally mounted to a Japan paper window mat with reversible adhesive around the extreme perimeter. The join is visible running vertically through the composition at center right. The sheets are faintly light-struck and the extreme edges are slightly dirty. The colors and the composition as a whole remain fresh and vibrant.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Throughout his life, Signac was fascinated by the movement of reflections on the surface of water. Often, he combined dazzling chromatic studies with the strong lines of a quay, a bridge, a boat or a monument. Here he chooses the celebrated skyline of the town of Avignon viewed at sunset, reflected in the surface of the Rhône.

Signac had already depicted this subject in an oil painting, Avignon. Soir (le château des Papes) (see fig. 1) and here he interprets it more freely in watercolor, widening the angle of his viewpoint to a panorama. The town’s principle monuments are easily identifiable, notably Notre-Dame des Doms cathedral crowned with its golden statue of the Virgin as well as the fourteenth-century town walls dominated by the Palais des Papes. To the left, an arch on the river indicates the beginning of the ancient Saint-Bénézet bridge, the famous Pont d'Avignon, so often damaged in the course of history. Downstream, the more modern suspension bridge has captured the artist’s attention. Constructed in the mid nineteenth-century, it too would be destroyed during the Second World War.

The artist had begun to vacation on the banks of the Rhône from 1926, renting a small house in Viviers, not far from Avignon. In 1927 he published a monograph on Jongkind in which he included a veritable hymn to watercolor painting, an art that he had long mastered and to which he devoted most of his energy. He had not renounced the idea of using watercolors to illustrate his favorite book, Mémoires d'un touriste by Stendhal, in his opinion “the finest book in the world”. In the Rhône valley, he often sought out the places evoked by his beloved author and in this work it is likely that he was remembering the lines: “When one enters Avignon, one believes oneself to be in an Italian town”. 

We are extremely grateful to Marina Ferretti for her kind assistance regarding this work.