French Neo-Impressionist Jeanne Selmersheim-Desgrange composes an energetic view of a sailboat on the French Riviera in this pointillist seascape. Selmersheim-Desgrange, along with her partner and fellow artist Paul Signac, was a master of the Pointillist movement. She fully embraced this avant-garde, scientific approach to color theory, using shortened strokes and pure color to create a visual effect not on the canvas, but in the viewer’s eye. Confident and fearless in her painting technique, she utilizes high-impact color in complementary combinations and bold, block-like brushstrokes to capture the atmosphere of this summer sunset.

Born into a family of creatives in 1877, Selmersheim-Desgrange followed in their footsteps, beginning her career as a jewelry designer. She married the architect Pierre Selmersheim while in her 20s and subsequently made the decision to shift from the decorative arts to painting. She began training under the great Neo-Impressionist artist Paul Signac, and the two quickly fell in love. After divorcing their respective spouses, they would spend the rest of their lives together. The couple settled in a small house they called "La Hune" in Saint-Tropez, and its cheery garden, abundance of light and proximity to the sea informed her artistic output, as seen in the present work.

The artist became a regular exhibitor at the Paris Salon des Indépendants beginning in 1909. Today her work stands as a stunning example of this highly modern movement; it was included in the exhibition Neo-Impressionism at the Guggenheim Museum in New York in 1968, and it can furthermore be found in the Portland Art Museum, the Indianapolis Museum of Art and the Centre Pompidou (Paris), among others.