River Bank in Springtime

Van Gogh's River Bank in Springtime, painted in 1887 during his Paris years and now at the Dallas Museum of Art, belongs to his suburban river paintings made along the Seine and its tributaries outside Paris. Spring along the river — fresh green vegetation, light reflected on water, the specific quality of northern spring light — gave him chromatic material that he approached with increasing Impressionist fluency. The Dallas Museum of Art holds a distinguished collection of French and American Impressionism alongside this work.

The riverbank in spring is rendered with Van Gogh's developing Impressionist palette — high-keyed greens and blues, the fresh colors of new vegetation. His brushwork on the riverside vegetation is broken and energetic, following the Impressionist approach to foliage. Water reflections are painted with loose, directional strokes that capture the river's surface.