Samois, the riverbank, morning

Samois, The Riverbank, Morning (1901) is one of Signac's painted studies along the Seine at Samois-sur-Seine, where he moored his sailboat during summer. The morning light condition — its cool, diffuse quality before midday warmth — gave him a different chromatic challenge from the noon-to-evening light he typically recorded in the south. This study belongs to a series of numbered works documenting the same riverside motif under varied conditions. Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

Morning light is rendered in cooler blues and grey-greens contrasted with warm ochre riverbanks. The water surface carries soft reflections of trees and sky in a lower-key palette than midday studies. Signac's mosaic brushwork builds the riverside scene in alternating warm-cool patches with the systematic rigour of his mature style.