Van Rysselberghe's pointillist technique is well expressed in this work, whose wooden liner was painted with dots of contrasting hues serving to amplify the color harmonies in the canvas.

[3] According to Christie's Deputy Chairman of Impressionist and Modern Art Cyanne Chutkow: Barques de pêche–Méditerranée is a stunning example of Van Rysselberghe's use of the divisionist technique, offering a scintillating array of dots that convey a tangible sense of the vastness and serenity of the Mediterranean as the artist saw it.

It offers a visual representation of Van Rysselberghe's sailing journey with Paul Signac and is an outstanding example of the artist's work in the prime of his career[2]Van Rysselberge painted this work during a two-month sailing excursion in le Midi with Paul Signac, a close friend of his and fellow divisionist painter.

This time along the French coast was personally transformative[2] for both Van Rysselberghe and Signac, who were still recovering from the untimely death of their friend.

It was at this time that this example of Van Rysselberghe's mastery of divisionism, the technique that cemented his place among the 19th century's greatest Neo-Impressionist painters, was produced.