With the premature death of Seurat in 1891, the "full weight of Neo-Impressionism," as Pissarro once remarked, shifted to the "shoulders" of Paul Signac. He was Seurat's closest associate during the formative years of the innovative technique of painting small dotlike strokes of pigment. For the remainder of his long, illustrious career Signac remained Neoimpressionism's most faithful and passionate advocate, in both his art and writings. His professed aim—"to give color the greatest possible brilliance"—was achieved by deftly orchestrated compositions that place a premium on the juxtaposition of pure, unmixed colors, first in small dabs or "dots" and later in squares.

Signac, an avid yachtsman, is best known for his glorious views of French ports and luminous seascapes. Between 1912 and 1928 he devoted some eleven oils and numerous watercolors to La Rochelle, a major harbor on the Atlantic coast. This resplendent view exemplifies the scintillating works of Signac's maturity, in which the rigors of pointillism give way to patterned mosaiclike surfaces of vibrant color. A valuable addition to the Museum's holdings, the painting joins two earlier views of La Rochelle seen from the sea, an ink-and-brush drawing (1912; acc. no. 1975.1.720) and a watercolor (1920; acc. no. 1975.1.721).