Georges Seurat (1859–1891)
1886, reworked around 1888–89
Oil paint on canvas
Honfleur, summer 1886
For his second stay on the Channel coast, in the summer of 1886, Georges Seurat settled in Honfleur, a picturesque town long popular with tourists and artists. Located on the estuary of the Seine, it saw the increasing industrialisation of its port in the late nineteenth century as commerce developed. In this work, Seurat focused on Honfleur’s docks and the ship ‘La Maria’, which operated a regular cross-Channel service to Southampton, as indicated by the sign just discernible on the right. The absence of figures on the quays is notable in what was in fact a busy harbourside. Seurat chose to focus entirely on the dynamic lines of the ship and port infrastructure, uninterrupted by human presence.