Voilier naviguant sur le Trieux 

Paul Signac made this watercolor and pencil drawing of a sailboat on the Trieux River at an unknown date. Signac, along with other Neo-Impressionists, sought to capture the fleeting effects of light and atmosphere, but within a framework of scientific rigor. Signac embraced anarchist politics in the 1890s, when he was experimenting with the pointillist technique. For Signac, therefore, the act of painting was inextricably linked to his radical politics. The sea, sailing, and boats were all symbols of freedom from bourgeois constraints. The loose handling of the watercolor suggests a spontaneity and liberation from the rigid social norms of the French Third Republic. The interpretation of art is always contingent on social and institutional contexts. Critical resources for understanding Signac’s art would be anarchist journals and political pamphlets that circulated at the time.