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Georges Seurat, 'Bathers at Asnières', 1884

About the work

Overview

This large picture was Seurat’s first major composition, painted when he had not yet turned 25. He intended it to be a grand statement with which he would make his mark at the official Salon in the spring of 1884, but it was rejected.

Several men and boys relax on the banks of the Seine at Asnières and Courbevoie, an industrial suburb north-west of central Paris. Shown in profile, they are as immobile as sculptures and each seems absorbed in his own thoughts, neither engaging with each other nor with us. Suffused with bright but hazy sunlight, the entire scene has an almost eerie stillness to it, as if time has been suspended and all movement temporarily frozen. In the background there is a railway bridge that partly hides a parallel road bridge, as well as the chimneys of the gas plant and factories at Clichy, where some of the men may work.

Key facts

Details

Full title
Bathers at Asnières
Artist dates
1859 - 1891
Date made
1884
Medium and support
oil on canvas
Dimensions
201 × 300 cm
Inscription summary
Signed
Acquisition credit
Bought, Courtauld Fund, 1924
Inventory number
NG3908
Location
Room 44
Collection
Main Collection
Frame
19th-century French Frame

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

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