0343 Bourgeois Consumerism and Neo-Impressionist Anarchism: Extremes Meet

Abstract

This study analyses the relationship between the two paintings of bourgeois interiors by Paul Signac (Salle à manger, 1886−1887, and Un Dimanche, 1888−1890) and contemporary literature on interior design. Authoritative information books on interior design were the publications of Henry Havard, especially L’Art dans la maison (1884) and La Décoration (1892). Signac’s artistic theories were embedded in anarchist ideology; those of Havard were in line with the emerging consumer society and the state of French industry. Yet both appear to have used the same scientific-theoretical sources for a fundamental part. In the paintings as well as in the furnishing advices this can be seen in the choice and arrangement of furniture, but especially in (regulations about) the application of colours and lines, whether or not aimed at psychological influencing. The similarities are striking. A shared confidence in progress through science linked divergent ideologies.