Saint-Tropez, from "L'Estampe Originale"

Published in 1894 as part of the seventh album of L'Estampe Originale, this color lithograph shows Signac translating the harbor of Saint-Tropez into a decorative, rhythmic print surface. Dark blue contours, pale yellows, greens, and ochres give the scene the crisp clarity of a graphic work while retaining the broken color and optical liveliness associated with Neo-Impressionism. The print belongs to the moment when Signac's attachment to Saint-Tropez was becoming central to his art; he had first visited the town in 1892 and soon made it one of his most important subjects. Its six-color lithographic process also reflects the 1890s revival of original printmaking in France, where artists treated the print as an independent creative medium rather than a reproduction.