Banks of the Seine with the Pont de Clichy

Van Gogh's 1887 painting of the banks of the Seine with the Pont de Clichy, now at Tate Modern, captures one of his favorite Paris painting locations — the river and its bridges in the western suburbs. The Pont de Clichy was a relatively recent bridge serving the industrial western suburbs, and Van Gogh's treatment finds picturesque and chromatic interest in this unremarkable infrastructure. His Paris period river paintings document both his developing Impressionist approach and his exploration of the Seine's suburban reaches during his years of rapid artistic evolution. Tate Modern's acquisition places this in London's finest modern art collection.

The riverside composition captures the bridge and its reflections in the Seine, with the working-class suburb visible beyond. Van Gogh's evolving Paris palette brings varied color to the industrial subject — blues and grays of water and sky, warm tones of the bridge structure. His brushwork is increasingly free and expressive, the Impressionist method absorbed and personalized.