In the autumn of 1891, Cross moved to Saint-Clair on the French Mediterranean coast, where he was to produce a large part of his oeuvre. That same year he became a convert to neo-Impressionism, which he had absorbed from his friends Seurat and Signac. In his Pointillist-type paintings he used tones that were pure but soft, mixed with white, as a means of expressing the discoloration that occurs under the harsh light of the Midi. Gradually, he began to develop his own personal style within the shared approach of Divisionism.

According to Signac, Cross was tormented by the conflict arising between the problems of naturalism and the freedom of the imagination: “Cross’s struggle with nature was terrible: at each brushstroke, fighting with all his will against his early training, he gave out a cry of pain, as if he were carrying a heavy load. Often he was defeated in this struggle; and yet when he was alone in front of his easel, in full creative fervour, he would triumph, as can be seen from his late works, the freedom and splendour of which have never been bettered.”