The Seine in Paris

This 1875 Seine panorama, now held by the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul, dates from Gauguin's earliest painting years when he was working in his leisure hours under the guidance of Camille Pissarro, whom he had met through his guardian Gustave Arosa. The Seine provided one of the primary subjects for the emerging Impressionist movement—Monet had recently painted it at Argenteuil, and the river's changing light and reflective surface made it ideal for exploring the movement's core concerns with atmospheric transience. Gauguin would exhibit with the Impressionists from 1880 onward, and these early river scenes were part of his foundation training.

The river surface is rendered with short, horizontal strokes building reflections from varied greens, blues, and greys. The compositional format—broad panorama with sky taking the upper third—follows the conventions Monet and Sisley had established for the Seine valley landscape.