Horse and Boats (Study for "Bathers at Asnières")
1883/1884
Medium
oil on wood
Dimensions
overall: 15.88 × 25.08 cm (6 1/4 × 9 7/8 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CF
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon
Accession Number
2014.18.55
Art Historical Context
Georges Seurat's *Horse and Boats (Study for "Bathers at Asnières")*, created around 1883–1884, offers a fascinating glimpse into the preparatory process behind one of the artist's groundbreaking masterpieces. This small oil on wood panel, measuring just 15.88 × 25.08 cm, captures a serene riverside scene at Asnières, a popular leisure spot on the Seine near Paris. Seurat, a pioneering French Post-Impressionist, was developing his revolutionary Divisionist technique—applying pure colors in tiny dots to exploit optical mixing—during this period, and this study reflects his meticulous experiment...
About the Artist
Georges Seurat · 1859–1891
Georges Seurat (1859-1891) was the founder of Neo-Impressionism and the inventor of Pointillism, a revolutionary technique that transformed how artists understand and apply color. In a tragically brief career cut short at age 31, Seurat produced only seven monumental paintings, yet his systematic application of color theory fundamentally altered the direction of modern art. Born in Paris to a pro...