GENERAL DESCRIPTION
A meadow dotted with trees is separated from a rustic house by a low fence. A sweeping view of a valley fills the distance. The subtle gradations of the sky impart a strong sense of atmosphere to the open landscape. This painting represents the small town of Comblat-le-Château in the Auvergne, in south-central France. Paul Signac described it in a letter as "a fairy-tale valley enclosed between splendid mountains." He spent about six weeks there in the summer of 1887, working outdoors, and made a series of five canvases of Comblat, as well as several oil sketches. Signac painted the valley of Comblat during the first crucial years of the neo-impressionist movement. He was working at that time directly under the influence of Georges Seurat and had enthusiastically adopted his laborious and exacting pointillist technique, painting small dots of pure, unmixed color side by side on the canvas and allowing these pure points of color to blend in the eye of the viewer, rather than on the painter's palette.
Excerpt from
Heather MacDonald, DMA label copy, 2010.
NOTES
Created June-July 1887
Paul Signac painted Comblat-le-Château, the Meadow during the first crucial years of the neo-impressionist movement. At the time, he was working directly under the influence of Georges Seurat, the innovator of neoimpressionism, and painting in Seurat’s laborious and exacting pointillist technique. Comblat-le-Château, the Meadow shows a sweeping view of a verdant valley from Comblat, a small town in the Auvergne, where Signac spent about six weeks in the summer of 1887. He painted outdoors, alarming villagers with his startlingly modern images. The subtle gradations of the sky impart a strong sense of atmosphere to the scene, a quality that is often lacking in the airless landscapes of neo-impressionism. Signac would eventually move on to a less demanding style, with a larger brushstroke and less reliance on plein-air observation.
Excerpt from
Bonnie Pitman, ed., "Comblat-le-Chateau," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 205.
Confluence label copy:
This painting represents the small town of Comblat-le-Château in the Auvergne region of south-central France. Paul Signac described it in a letter as "a fairy-tale valley enclosed between splendid mountains." He spent about six weeks there in the summer of 1887, working outdoors and making a series of five canvases of Comblat, in addition to several oil sketches that reveal the influence of Georges Seurat’s cutting-edge Neo-Impressionist style. Signac enthusiastically adopted Seurat’s laborious and exacting pointillist technique, painting small dots of unmixed color side by side on the canvas in order to increase the vibrancy of both color and light. The effect was intended to replicate the sensation of vision, in which colors seen from a distance are blended in the viewer’s eyes rather than on the painter’s palette.
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Signac, Paul (French, 1863-1935)
Cultures
Geography
Depicted location and place of origin: Comblat-le-Château (inhabited place/France): TGN: 7656411
Process/materials
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
AUDIO ASSETS
12937014: UMO Collections smARTphone video; Olivier Meslay discusses Comblat-le-Château, the Meadow (Le Pré), Opus 161 by Paul Signac (DMA collection 2010.14.McD)
44997830: UMO Learn about Paul Signac
VIDEO ASSETS
IMAGE ASSETS
WEB RESOURCES
- Museum of Modern Art, New York~View other works by Paul Signac from MOMA.
- Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam~Check out another painting by Signac.
ARCHIVAL RESOURCES
FUN FACTS
TEACHING IDEAS
RULES
Apply to objects where number equals 2010.14.McD
Category
rules_operator
AND
General Description
A meadow dotted with trees is separated from a rustic house by a low fence. A sweeping view of a valley fills the distance. The subtle gradations of the sky impart a strong sense of atmosphere to the open landscape. This painting represents the small town of Comblat-le-Château in the Auvergne, in south-central France. Paul Signac described it in a letter as "a fairy-tale valley enclosed between splendid mountains." He spent about six weeks there in the summer of 1887, working outdoors, and made a series of five canvases of Comblat, as well as several oil sketches. Signac painted the valley of Comblat during the first crucial years of the neo-impressionist movement. He was working at that time directly under the influence of Georges Seurat and had enthusiastically adopted his laborious and exacting pointillist technique, painting small dots of pure, unmixed color side by side on the canvas and allowing these pure points of color to blend in the eye of the viewer, rather than on the painter's palette.
Excerpt from
Heather MacDonald, DMA label copy, 2010.
Fun Facts
Archival Resources
Web Resources
- Museum of Modern Art, New York~View other works by Paul Signac from MOMA.
- Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam~Check out another painting by Signac.
Notes
Created June-July 1887
Paul Signac painted Comblat-le-Château, the Meadow during the first crucial years of the neo-impressionist movement. At the time, he was working directly under the influence of Georges Seurat, the innovator of neoimpressionism, and painting in Seurat’s laborious and exacting pointillist technique. Comblat-le-Château, the Meadow shows a sweeping view of a verdant valley from Comblat, a small town in the Auvergne, where Signac spent about six weeks in the summer of 1887. He painted outdoors, alarming villagers with his startlingly modern images. The subtle gradations of the sky impart a strong sense of atmosphere to the scene, a quality that is often lacking in the airless landscapes of neo-impressionism. Signac would eventually move on to a less demanding style, with a larger brushstroke and less reliance on plein-air observation.
Excerpt from
Bonnie Pitman, ed., "Comblat-le-Chateau," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 205.
Confluence label copy:
This painting represents the small town of Comblat-le-Château in the Auvergne region of south-central France. Paul Signac described it in a letter as "a fairy-tale valley enclosed between splendid mountains." He spent about six weeks there in the summer of 1887, working outdoors and making a series of five canvases of Comblat, in addition to several oil sketches that reveal the influence of Georges Seurat’s cutting-edge Neo-Impressionist style. Signac enthusiastically adopted Seurat’s laborious and exacting pointillist technique, painting small dots of unmixed color side by side on the canvas in order to increase the vibrancy of both color and light. The effect was intended to replicate the sensation of vision, in which colors seen from a distance are blended in the viewer’s eyes rather than on the painter’s palette.
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Signac, Paul (French, 1863-1935)
Cultures
Geography
Depicted location and place of origin: Comblat-le-Château (inhabited place/France): TGN: 7656411
Process/materials
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
AUDIO ASSETS
12937014: UMO Collections smARTphone video; Olivier Meslay discusses Comblat-le-Château, the Meadow (Le Pré), Opus 161 by Paul Signac (DMA collection 2010.14.McD)
44997830: UMO Learn about Paul Signac
VIDEO ASSETS
rules
Apply To
Objects
number
Equals
2010.14.McD
source file
object_notes_2_a-0640.xml.nores