Rouen

Discussion

FROM THE BARNES FOUNDATION’S CATALOG

In this small watercolor of Rouen, France, we see the city's towering Gothic cathedral, a multicolored tree, and the river Seine busy with boats. Signac's painting technique separates colors according to rules of optical contrast. This technique was meant to echo the structures of material reality and of Gothic engineering. The Gothic element further expressed the artist's sociopolitical ideals: he and his peers believed that Gothic cities had been near-communist utopias of moral and social harmony and hoped that their paintings would promote the same values.

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