We wish to thank Marina Ferretti for confirming the authenticity of the present lot, which will be accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity.

Provenance:

Catherine Burns, Oakland, California.

Private Collection, Chicago.

Lot Note:

Paul Signac’s relationship with Paimpol is part of his broader, lifelong fascination with the French coastline, particularly Brittany, which he explored extensively in the mid-1880s and 1890s, at a moment when he was developing, alongside Georges Seurat, the principles of Neo-Impressionism. 

A working fishing port on the northern coast, Paimpol offered a very different motif from the Mediterranean light that would later define Signac’s work. Here, he encountered a harsher, more variable atmosphere, which he often translated into sepia ink on paper, as a way to suggest the region’s shifting skies, cool tonalities, and the rugged geometry of harbors, masts, and boats.