Georges Seurat (1859–1891)
1888, reworked around 1889
Oil paint on canvas
Port-en-Bessin, summer 1888
Each new site brought new points of interest for Georges Seurat. After remaining in Paris in summer 1887, he returned to Normandy in 1888 and stayed in the fishing village of Port-en-Bessin. There, he was drawn less to the open sea than to the newly modernised infrastructure of the port. This view is taken from the inner harbour, looking out to the quays and the Channel beyond. An unusually whimsical element is introduced amidst the strict geometry of the composition by the fluttering flags, whose shape echo the large cloud in the sky. Flags were often flown on French boats at harbour on Sundays, the day noted in Seurat’s title.