The Bathers, Asnières, by George Seurat

Georges Seurat (1859-91) died at the age of only 32, but during his short life he was able to effect a revolution in art that moved painting forward from Impressionism into what was dubbed “Neo-Impressionism”. His painting “The Bathers, Asnières”, although the artist’s first major work, is widely regarded as the marker of that revolution.

Seurat was fascinated by the science of colour, and the process by which the human eye and brain resolve the impression of colour as seen in Nature. The technique he developed was to apply paint to the canvas not as continuous streaks but as tiny points of colour, such that the subject of the painting can only be appreciated when the viewer is at the correct distance from the canvas. As “The Bathers” measures some 6.5 feet by 10 feet, the ideal viewing distance is quite considerable. The individual dots are invisible, but the proportions of dots of different colours in any one area create the impression of a certain shade.

The technique is known as “Pointillisme” and it has also been called “Divisionism”. To the modern viewer, who is used to the technique used to create images on a computer screen, the dots of paint are the same as “pixels”, or “picture elements” that cheat the eye into believing that a solid image exists when it is actually composed of millions of individual points of colour. Going the other way in time, it is similar to mosaic work.

Seurat’s canvas portrays a scene by the River Seine on a hot summer’s day. To the left of the canvas is a grassy bank on which several figures sit or recline. There are piles of clothes that the bathers have discarded. A small dog sits up, looking round at something on the river. The most prominent figure is that of a boy who sits on the bank with his back hunched and his feet presumably dangling in the water. Another boy stands in the water nearly up to his waist. He has his hands raised to his mouth as though calling to somebody on a boat on the river; perhaps this is what has made the dog sit up and look round.

Also visible is another boy standing in the water, who is the only character not looking over to the right. In the distance we can see boats of various kinds, trees overhanging the water, and, in the far distance, factory buildings and chimneys, one of which is producing dark smoke.

This is therefore a commonplace impressionist scene of ordinary people doing ordinary things, but portrayed in an extraordinary way. Seurat is able to show his skill at producing a range of textures, including light and shade, skin tones and reflections in the water. What works best in this painting is the impression of a heat haze, with the distant objects having fuzzy edges as they meld into the clear blue sky.

Seurat probably began work on “The Bathers” in 1882, and worked on it for more than a year. He painted and drew a number of smaller works in preparation for the main canvas, concentrating on individual figures and experimenting with his technique until he was satisfied with it. His aim was to achieve an exact interplay of colour and light in the open air, and to this end each area of shadow was broken down into the complementary colours of the neighbouring unshaded areas. Every element of the painting, whether water, grass or flesh, was made up of colours reflected from the objects adjoining it.

It should not, however, be assumed that the entire area of the canvas consists of dots of paint. Seurat used a variety of textures, including short criss-crossing strokes which become gradually shorter with distance. This technique is apparent in the depiction of the grass, for example.

Despite the apparent relaxation of the scene, Seurat left nothing to chance in either his execution or composition. “The Bathers, Asnières” is therefore a coming together of art and science.

Seurat continued to develop his pointillist technique in later works, despite the inevitable criticism that was bound to befall the leader of a revolution. Other painters who used the technique include Van Gogh, and many modern artists have been influenced by it, including Andy Warhol.

The painting is today housed in the National Gallery, London.