Paul Signac
In August 1903, Paul Signac undertook his first journey to Switzerland, settling in the small mountain town of Les Diablerets, located in the French-speaking region of Suisse Romande, east of Lake Geneva and approximately 15 kilometers southwest of Gstaad. A devoted sailor accustomed to the open horizons of the Mediterranean near Saint-Tropez, Signac initially found the enclosed vistas of the Alpine landscape challenging. Yet he soon overcame this resistance, becoming deeply engaged with watercolor studies that explored dramatic shifts in perspective and the interplay of light and shadow across layered planes of terrain.
On 22 November 1903, the artist Charles Angrand wrote to Signac, remarking enthusiastically: “You say that you have two Diablerets underway. So, magical colours to the fore!” Painted that same year, Les Diablerets (The Oldenhorn and the Bécabesson) is one of the two works referenced in Angrand’s letter. The importance of this composition—and its companion—is underscored by their provenance: each was acquired separately by Signac’s close friend and one of the most influential advocates of Neo-Impressionism, Félix Fénéon.
In correspondence with Fénéon following the purchase of the second Diablerets painting, Signac explained that he had consciously sacrificed many descriptive details of the landscape—an approach equally evident in Les Diablerets (The Oldenhorn and the Bécabesson). This deliberate suppression of detail allowed Signac to saturate the canvas with color, using lush, rhythmic brushstrokes to generate a shimmering harmony of blues, lavenders, and pinks. These tones flow across the picture surface, approaching abstraction as they capture the subtle variations of light and shadow animating the mountainous terrain.
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