Along the Seine

Along the Seine, painted in 1887 and now at the Van Gogh Museum, is a characteristic Paris-period landscape from the months when Van Gogh was painting the banks of the Seine and its bridges as subjects for practicing Impressionist techniques in an outdoor setting. The Seine was a central subject for the Impressionist movement — Monet, Sisley, and others had established the river as a quintessentially modern subject — and Van Gogh engaged with this tradition directly during his Paris period. His version brings an individualistic energy to a subject that he shares with his contemporaries, the brushwork more agitated and directive than the atmospheric dabs of strict Impressionism.

The river landscape is handled through varied, directional strokes: the water rendered in horizontal bands that suggest movement and reflection, the vegetation on the banks in curved and looping marks, the sky in measured horizontal sweeps. His palette at this stage reflects Impressionist influence — blues, greens, and warm reflected light — while his mark-making already shows the more systematic, expressive character of his developing personal style. The composition deploys the river as a strong horizontal element dividing land and sky.