Paul Signac, November 11, 1863–August 15, 1935, was a French painter, watercolorist, printmaker, and writer associated with Neo-Impressionism. Born in Paris, he abandoned architectural studies in 1880 and was largely self-taught, learning through close study of Claude Monet and the other Impressionists.

In 1884 Signac met Georges Seurat and helped develop the Divisionist method of applying separate touches of unmixed color according to optical theory. He was a founder of the Société des Artistes Indépendants that year and served as its president from 1908 until his death. His artistic circle included Seurat, Camille Pissarro, Maximilien Luce, Henri-Edmond Cross, Théo van Rysselberghe, and the critic Félix Fénéon; his encouragement and example also affected younger painters including Henri Matisse.

Signac traveled extensively by sailboat and worked along the Seine, the Atlantic coast, and the Mediterranean, producing paintings, watercolors, drawings, and prints. Major holdings of his work are in the Musée d’Orsay, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Kröller-Müller Museum, and other public collections in Europe and the United States. He died in Paris on August 15, 1935.