Banks of the Seine with Boats, The

Van Gogh's Banks of the Seine with Boats from 1887 belongs to his numerous depictions of the Paris river and its activity during his years in the French capital. Rowing boats, barges, and the reflective surface of the Seine provided him with quintessentially modern subject matter in the Impressionist tradition, and he worked these subjects with increasing fluency as his Paris stay progressed. The work is currently unlocated or in private hands, part of the large body of his Paris period work dispersed globally through the art market over the decades since his death.

The riverbank composition captures boats moored or moving on the Seine, their reflections creating double images in the water. Van Gogh's evolving Paris palette renders the scene with varied color — blues and greens of water, warm tones of wooden hulls. His brushwork on the reflective surface is characteristic — broken, directional strokes capturing the animated water.