After the death of the friend and mentor George Seurat in 1891, Paul Signac pursued his work both as a painter and as the theoretician of the Neo-Impressionist group. In 1892, he decided to leave Paris for Saint-Tropez, where he was to spend six months a year until 1913. After making several small-format paintings of the harbor in Saint-Tropez during summer 1892, Signac set about a large composition the following year—an allegory of the ideal society and an illustration of happy life. In one of his first sketches for this painting, one can see two women busy drawing water from a well. Signac decided to isolate these two characters and devote a painting to them. As we can see, that was an excellent idea!
All the elements of the landscape in which he set the scene really exist in Saint-Tropez: the hill with the citadel at the top, the sea and the jetty of the harbor, the Maures hill, and the Estérel foothills, but the painter synthesized them at his will. I love the light and the colors of this painting! I've never been to Saint-Tropez, but after looking at this masterpiece, I feel like I breathe the French Riviera's air. :)
P.S. Read here about the most renowned pointillist painting - A Sunday on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat.
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