Often they were intended to mark important periods in his life, for example the mid-1887 Paris series were painted at the point where he became aware of Claude Monet, Paul Cezanne and Signac.
Seringkali, karya-karya tersebut dimaksudkan untuk menandai masa-masa penting dalam kehidupanya, contohnya serial Paris yang dibuat pada pertengahan tahun 1887 dilukis pada saat ia mulai mengenal karya-karya Claude Monet, Paul Cezanne, dan Signac.