Réville 1931

Paul Signac made this watercolour painting, Réville, on graph paper and it feels like a really personal sketch. He uses a limited colour palette and it gives the impression of being a spontaneous, quick study. I love how he leaves the grid of the paper visible, it's such an ordinary material. The squared lines peek through the washes of colour and the loose drawing of the boats bobbing in the water. It's like we're seeing the scaffolding, the bones of the painting. There's a real sense of lightness and airiness to the piece. The brushstrokes are so fluid and transparent, especially in the sky and the water. The way he suggests the waves with just a few flicks of the brush is so confident. Signac's work reminds me a little of Matisse's drawings, that same effortless quality, as if they just flowed right out of the hand. But Signac's got this pointillist thing going on, which is all his own. Ultimately, Signac embraces the imperfection and ambiguity inherent in the artistic process and invites us to do the same.