Signac as a Collector (2021) is a French documentary film. The central figure of the film is Paul Signac, born in 1863 and died in 1935, who was one of the major figures of the Neo-Impressionist movement alongside Georges Seurat. Over his lifetime, he was able to assemble a collection of around 250 paintings and drawings. This collection, now largely dispersed, is as important for the history of art as it is impressive.

Offering a panorama of the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist movement, the exhibition includes works by Delacroix, Monet, Manet, Van Gogh, Degas, Cézanne, and Pissarro. This selection, remarkable for its coherence and quality, reveals an unexpected view both of Signac’s work and of his personality. Above all, his collection shows his passionate involvement in the art world, placing him at the crossroads of different avant-garde movements.

The documentary film about the passionate collector Signac as a Collector was made in France in 2021. One of its producers was the Musée d’Orsay.

Signac was self-taught. He learned his craft by studying the works of Impressionists such as Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, and Armand Guillaumin. Most of the works by the artists from whom Signac learned are kept in his collection, the first painting in which was a landscape by Paul Cézanne. From the very beginning, his role in the foundation and later organization of the Salon des Indépendants, of which he became president in 1908, placed him at the intersection of different avant-garde movements. His passion for colour led him to admire the Fauves, especially Kees van Dongen, Henri Matisse, Charles Camoin, and Louis Valtat.

Watch Signac as a Collector online on the MEGOGO media service.