Entrance to the port of Marseille

By 1898, when Signac painted the entrance to the great harbour of Marseille, his handling had changed. The small tight dots of ten years earlier had grown into broader, squarer strokes, each a distinct block of colour, so the surface reads almost like mosaic. Marseille was one of the busiest ports in France, and he set its water, sky and shipping down entirely in these separate tiles of unmixed colour laid side by side. Working at this larger scale of stroke let him cover a big canvas and still keep the restless shimmer of light on a working harbour. Seen from across a room the blocks resolve into water and masts. Up close they stay frankly what they are, small squares of pure colour.