Marseilles 1898

Paul Signac captured this vivid watercolor sketch of Marseilles, a port city steeped in maritime history. The image is dominated by the port with its multitude of masts that point skyward like secular obelisks. Masts, these silent sentinels, have always held a potent symbolism. Consider the ancient Egyptians, and their obelisks aspiring to the heavens, conduits between the earthly and divine realms. In both instances, the vertical thrust speaks of aspiration, of a connection to something beyond. Here, the masts of Marseilles do not point to the heavens, they point to distant lands, of opportunities and possibilities. Like ancient symbols that evolve through time, the mast has been appropriated and recontextualized to fit different ideologies. And so, Signac’s watercolor captures not just a place, but a moment, a fleeting glimpse of Marseilles, pregnant with potential.