Jeanne Selmersheim-Desgrange was born in Paris in 1877. She studied painting with Paul Signac, who would become her companion in 1910. Together they would have a daughter, Ginette, whom Signac would adopt in 1927. In a 1928 will, discovered late in life, Signac designated Ginette as his universal legatee.

Signac does not like the term pointillism. "The neo-impressionist does not dot, but divides," he insists. For it is not a question of stupidly covering a canvas with small multicoloured dots, but of dividing the colours according to very precise rules. So that when the spectator moves away, the dots methodically applied next to each other are no longer perceptible but merge, merge in our eye to create harmonious, vivid and luminou...