Le Pont de Courbevoie

Georges Seurat · 1880

Le Pont de Courbevoie - Georges Seurat

Masts, a tree trunk and a factory chimney stand straight as pillars over a still, cool Seine. Seurat built this quiet riverside out of tiny dots, and a strange stillness settles over every figure.

The story behind the painting

The French Wikipedia says Seurat painted this canvas between 1886 and 1887 on the banks of the Seine near the bridge of Courbevoie, by the island of the Grande Jatte, where he had recently painted one of his most famous works, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. Wikidata gives the date as 1880, which does not match. The old iron bridge crossed the river in two parts, through the island, linking Courbevoie with Neuilly-sur-Seine. It was destroyed in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 and rebuilt identically in 1876.

What to look for

Strict geometry rules the picture. Vertical lines repeat everywhere: the masts of the boats, a sail reflected in the water, the big tree trunk on the right, and in the distance the smoking chimney of a factory. Horizontal lines answer them, above all the bridge crossing the background. A strong diagonal at the bottom marks the grassy bank. On the bank stand two figures, held in the stillness of their own volume, with another further back on the left, and two tiny figures in a boat near a bridge pier. Look at the reflections, including one of a pier.

Meaning and intent

Seurat used dots of colour, the technique called pointillism or divisionism, breaking light down into colours in a rigorous, almost mathematical way, so that the viewer's eye mixes them. Here the colours are mostly cool, from violet to green and some yellow. The result looks petrified, almost frozen: sharp contours, static figures, a solid scene on a stable geometric base. The suburb of Courbevoie was an industrial site, yet the mood is unusually dark and silent, and the isolated figures add a feeling of melancholy.

Legacy

Years after Seurat's death his family sold most of his paintings. This one was bequeathed by Samuel Courtauld to the Courtauld Gallery in London in 1948, and it is still there. The French article gives its size as 46.4 by 55.3 cm, while Wikidata gives 46.4 by 53.3 cm. The same stretch of river and island appears in many of Seurat's paintings, but here, instead of a sunny Sunday crowd, he shows a nearly empty bank, which makes the small canvas feel like a moment of held breath.

Le saviez-vous ?

Wikipedia · Wikidata

paysage · arbre · bateau · galerie Courtauld · voilier · Seine

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