Van Rysselberghe adopted the pointillist style, creating a composition using countless tiny dots of complementary colours, after seeing the work of Georges Seurat. He formed a close friendship with Seurat's follower, Paul Signac (1863 - 1935), and in the early 1890s produced a series of deceptively simple, light-filled and densely worked seascapes as Van Rysselberghe and Signac travelled and painted together.

A distinctive feature of his work is the clusters of white dots sprinkled across the picture surface, as here, which give his paintings an animated, almost dancing quality. The dots also often form swirling decorative patterns, as in this work.

On loan to the exhibition 'Theo van Rysselberghe' at the Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels from February to May 2006.