Pont du Carrousel and the Louvre

Van Gogh's 1886 painting of the Pont du Carrousel and the Louvre, now in Copenhagen's Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, was made during his first year in Paris when the city's iconic monuments were new to him. The Pont du Carrousel — spanning the Seine with the Louvre's massive presence beyond — was among the most painted views in Paris, and Van Gogh's treatment reflects both his absorption of Impressionist approaches to urban light and his own emerging personality as a painter. The bridge and its reflection in the Seine gave him the compositional structure of water and architecture that he would work through throughout the Parisian years.

The composition divides between the bridge and its reflection in the Seine, the Louvre's mass providing the architectural backdrop. Van Gogh's developing Paris palette is visible — lighter than his Dutch period, with more varied color. The water reflections are handled with loose, broken strokes. The overall effect is atmospheric and Impressionist in sensibility.