Georges Seurat, 'Clothes on the Grass: Study for 'Bathers at Asnières'', 1883
About the work
Overview
This is one of many oil studies for Seurat's first large-scale composition 'Bathers at Asnières' of 1884. This was set in the suburb of Asnières to the north-west of Paris and painted before he had fully evolved his technique of pointillism.
Like most of his other oil studies, this sketch was painted in the open air. Here the artist has suppressed the figures and concentrated on the landscape itself and the bundle of discarded clothing.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Clothes on the Grass: Study for 'Bathers at Asnières'
- Artist
- Georges Seurat
- Artist dates
- 1859 - 1891
- Date made
- 1883
- Medium and support
- Oil on wood
- Dimensions
- 16.2 × 24.8 cm
- Acquisition credit
- On loan from Tate: Presented by Alex Reid and Lefevre 1926
- Inventory number
- L727
- Location
- Not on display
- Image copyright
- On loan from Tate: Presented by Alex Reid and Lefevre 1926, © 2000 Tate
- Collection
- Main Collection
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.
Images
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This small panel may be linked to Seurat’s earliest sketches and ideas for Bathers at Asnières (1883–4), although it is not normally included in the 13 sketches which have been tied to that painting.The carefully organised geometry of the scene, which divides the picture into distinct sections, c...
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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 Asnière...
Of the small panels in the National Gallery’s collection related to Seurat’s Bathers at Asnières, this oil sketch on wood is perhaps the one most closely connected with the final painting. Unlike other sketches, which concentrate on atmospheric effects or the landscape, Seurat’s focus here is alm...
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This is one of the earliest studies for A Sunday on La Grande Jatte of 1884–6 (Art Institute of Chicago), and was very likely painted on location. As this sketch was painted in the morning, the sunlight and shadows are the reverse of other studies and of the final painting itself, which shows the...
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Seurat produced many oil sketches and drawings as studies for his monumental painting A Sunday on La Grande Jatte of 1884–6 (Art Institute of Chicago). Many of these concentrate on the landscape but others, including this one, focus on the scale and position of figures within the final picture.He...
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This panel was most likely painted in 1885 and relates to a medium-size canvas, The Seine at Courbevoie (now in a private collection in Paris). Seurat may have painted it before he decided to produce a finished picture of this particular view of the river, or it may be a preparatory study.The ver...
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This is the only sketch for Seurat’s Bathers at Asnières that includes a rainbow, which was painted over the sky once the paint had dried. Although perhaps a rather contrived image, the mottled sky suggests Seurat may have seen a rainbow. It is evidence of his attention to particular effects of l...
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The island of La Grande Jatte and the views from it across the river Seine were a rich source of pictorial subjects for Seurat during the 1880s. He was especially attracted to this location, in part because of the pictorial forms and structures it offered, such as the horizontal of the river and...
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