Mont Saint-Michel. Fog and sun

Mont Saint-Michel: Fog and Sun (1897) shows Signac applying his divisionist technique to one of France's most celebrated coastal monuments — the tidal island abbey of Mont Saint-Michel off the Normandy coast. By 1897 Signac had sailed extensively along the French coastline and was comfortable with the challenge of rendering famous scenic sites through systematic colour division. The contrast of fog and sun light conditions allowed him to explore the range from cool diffuse light to warm directional illumination. The painting remains in a private or unknown collection.

The misty atmosphere is built from small, closely valued dots of blue-grey and ochre, through which warm sun-tones pierce at certain areas. The island's silhouette emerges from the fog as a dark mass of cooler dots. The handling of transitional atmospheric light is characteristic of Signac's meteorological sensitivity.