Saint-Gilles Croix-De-Vie 1925

Paul Signac created this watercolour of Saint-Gilles Croix-De-Vie with what looks like such ease! You can almost see him dabbing the brush, here and there, building up the scene. See how he’s mixed blues and greens to create the shimmering water. It's all very light and impressionistic, like a quick sketch but with a good amount of detail. I wonder what Signac was thinking when he painted those boats. He was part of the pointillist movement with Seurat, but this feels more immediate. It's looser than his other work, so perhaps he was enjoying the feeling of the fresh air on his skin, just trying to capture a fleeting moment. There’s a real sense of movement with the boats and the people in them. Each stroke contributes to the overall impression of a busy harbour. And yet there's a serenity to it; painting offers us these quiet moments of reflection. It’s like Signac is in conversation with the Impressionists, absorbing their lessons but doing his own thing too. What do you think?