Moored Boats and Trees

Moored Boats and Trees is among Seurat's river and harbour subjects, studies of the quiet infrastructure of river commerce — mooring posts, tow-paths, barges — that complemented his more celebrated images of recreation on the same waterways. The combination of reflective water, moored wooden vessels, and overhanging trees offered Seurat a subject rich in colour relationships: water reflects sky and trees while the boats introduce warm, ochre and rust tones into an otherwise cool palette. The careful observation of reflections in still water was one of his most consistent technical interests.

The divisionist technique gives the water surface a shimmering quality through juxtaposition of cool blue-greens with warm reflected boat colours. Tree masses are built from varied greens in fine vertical strokes. Moored boats provide strong horizontal anchors against the soft vertical tree forms.