Signac was second only to Seurat as the leading figure of the Neo-Impressionist movement. He painted many of the seaports that face the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Channel waters where he often sailed.

This seascape is the work of a self-confident painter at mid-career, who continued to refine his approach to Neo-Impressionism. By 1899 Signac preferred broader strokes, and his brushwork creates patterns that reflect his growing preoccupation with surface design. The brilliant hues of purple, green and red-orange illustrate his move away from the naturalism of early Neo-Impressionism to a freer, more arbitrary choice of color.

Richard Samson, Hamburg;{1} Alfred Aufhauser, Samson's nephew, New York in 1930s. (Sale, Christie's, London, 30 November 1962, lot. No. 34, unsold). Martin Fabiani, Paris. (Edward Speelman, Ltd., London). (Sale, Sotheby's, London, 31 March 1965, lot no. 42 (ill.);{2} acquired by W.J. Holliday; bequeathed to the Indianapolis Museum of Art in 1979.

{1} For the early provenance of this painting see Françoise Cachin, Signac: Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, Paris, 2000, no. 330 (ill.).
{2} The remaining provenance is recorded in Ellen Wardwell Lee, The Aura of Neo-Impressionism: The W.J. Holliday Collection, Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1983, pp. 58-9.