Paul Signac
1912 - 2001
Paul Victor Jules Signac was born in Paris on November 11, 1863 into
a family of a well-to-do master harness-maker. He started his career
in architecture, but abandoned this at the age of 18 to pursue a career
as a painter. He sailed around the coasts of Europe, painting the
landscapes he encountered. He also painted scenes of cities in France
in his later years. In 1884 he met Monet and Georges Seurat. He was
struck by the systematic working methods of Seurat, and his theory of
colors and became Seurat's faithful supporter. Under his influence he
abandoned the short brushstrokes of impressionism to experiment with
scientifically juxtaposed small dots of pure color, intended to combine
and blend not on the canvas but in the viewer's eye, the defining feature
of pointillism.