In the Time of Harmony
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| In the Time of Harmony | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Year | 1893–95 |
| Medium | oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 310 cm × 410 cm (120 in × 160 in) |
| Location | Hôtel de ville de Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis |
In the Time of Harmony is a painting by the French post-impressionist artist Paul Signac, completed in 1895 in Saint-Tropez.[1] This pointillist oil painting on canvas represents an idealized society by the seashore where numerous people perform different activities such as foraging, pétanque, reading, dancing, and painting. Shown at the Salon des indépendants in 1895, it has since been in the grand staircase of the Montreuil city hall in Seine-Saint-Denis.
The painting was shaped by Signac's engagement with socialism in the wake of the 1894 assassination of President Sadi Carnot.[2] Many of Signac's close friends and colleagues, including Félix Fénéon and Maximilien Luce, were jailed in Mazas prison and tried as part of the Trial of the Thirty for their anarchist connections but Signac was able to avoid imprisonment in part because of the indirect manner in which he depicted socialist themes in his work. Signac said on the matter, "Justice in sociology, harmony in art: same thing. The anarchistic painter is not the one who produces anarchist pictures, but the one who, without thought of fain, without desire for regard, battles with all official conventions by making a personal contribution."[2]
While he was not one to shy away from a political statement in his work, Signac did so with undertones. For example, when he was creating the composition of the painting, he added in a rooster in the bottom right corner, which could serve equally as a symbol of a new dawn and as a reference to anarchist politics. He wrote in his journal on 7 August 1894: "drew the rooster. Beginning of the trial of the thirty."[3]
The multiple titles of the piece also played a role in its ambiguous meaning, variously presenting the work as a scene of outdoor "harmony" or as an expression of protest and political resistance. The title of the work was originally In the Time of Anarchy.[4] It was changed by self-censorship to In the Time of Harmony. But the painting maintains a utopian subtitle without being overtly anarchist: "The golden age is not in the past; it is in the future."[5] The piece was originally meant to be the final piece of a larger series with other panels representing boat haulers, wreckers, and builders showing that France was far from a time of harmony but it was achievable if the country put in the work and made a change.[3] This utopia would include all of the elements in the painting, creating a world where family, work, and play existed harmoniously.[citation needed]
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