Paul SIGNAC
French 1863–1935
Avignon. Morning 1909
(Avignon. Matin)
oil on canvas
73.5 x 92.0 cm
Private collection

Paradoxically, while the more insistent, broader brushstokes adopted in Neo-Impressionism's later years by Luce, Cross and Signac encouraged a greater expressive presence in the handling of paint, this simultaneously flattened out the picture plane by reducing the illusion of perspective and distance. In this way, Neo-Impressionism rendered the image more abstract, despite the dynamic presence of observed nature, the significant role of the subject and the enduring motivation of philosophical anarchism's search for a moral harmony.