Georges Seurat, A River Bank (The Seine at Asnières)

In the early 1880s Seurat often drew and painted along the river Seine at Asnières, an industrial suburb north-west of the centre of Paris, which was to be the location for his monumental painting Bathers at Asnières (1883–4).

This small panel, painted around 1883, may be linked to his earliest sketches and ideas for the Bathers, although it is not normally included in the 13 sketches that have been tied to the painting. The carefully organised geometry of the scene, which divides the picture into distinct sections, can be seen in the Bathers. The vertical axis of the striped pole on the left, which is echoed by another vertical in the distance, is countered by the horizontal band of the distant riverbank. The diagonal line of the riverbank on the right forms one side of the almost triangular shape of the water – a feature which also appears in the Bathers.

Seurat has used long, horizontal brushstrokes – in the style of Impressionism – for the water and choppier strokes for the riverbank and foliage. Although he had not yet developed his pointillist technique, it is perhaps anticipated here, especially in the juxtaposed dabs of pink, blue and yellow-green in the lower-right foreground.