Saint-Tropez La jetée 

Paul Signac made this sketch of Saint-Tropez using watercolor and pencil. Signac was a key figure in the development of Pointillism, but he also captured the changing face of French leisure and tourism. This image shows a moment in the transformation of Saint-Tropez from a sleepy fishing village into a glamorous resort. Signac himself helped to initiate this shift, having 'discovered' the town in the 1890s and encouraging other artists to visit. By the time this sketch was made, Saint-Tropez was becoming a fashionable destination for the Parisian bourgeoisie. We might see this image, then, as part of a larger story about the democratization of leisure and the changing social geography of France. To understand this work more fully, we can consult not only art historical sources but also social histories of tourism and leisure in France.