Bridges across the Seine at Asnieres

In the summer of 1887 Van Gogh spent several weeks painting with Émile Bernard and Paul Signac at Asnières-sur-Seine, the suburban commune west of Paris where Seurat had painted his Grande Jatte subjects. The bridges and river views he produced there represent the most direct engagement he made with the divisionist technique of Seurat and Signac, whose systematic colour theory — based on the writings of Charles Henry and the optical research of Chevreul — he was absorbing through personal conversation and direct study. The Pont de Clichy and the Pont d'Asnières appeared in canvases by both Van Gogh and Bernard that summer, making this group of paintings a rare documented example of two artists working the same subjects side by side. The chromatic distance from his Nuenen work less than two years earlier is extraordinary: what had been dark earth tones becomes, almost overnight, a palette of blues, greens, and warm whites derived directly from Impressionist observation of light on water. Now at the Kunsthaus Zürich.

Broken, dappled brushstrokes in blues, greens, and warm whites record reflected light on the Seine. The influence of Pointillism is visible in places — particularly the water surface — while the bridges and embankment are handled with looser Impressionist strokes. The overall effect is luminous and immediate, far removed from his Nuenen palette.