Bathers at Asnières by Seurat: Workers by the Seine

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Workers resting by the river

On the bank of the Seine at Asnières, north-west of Paris, young men rest in the sun. Some sit on the grass, one lies down, others stand in the water. In the background, factory chimneys smoke beyond a bridge.

Georges Seurat was only twenty-four when he painted Bathers at Asnières in 1884. It is a huge canvas, about two by three metres, and belongs to the National Gallery in London.

Still figures in strong profile

Calm figures in strict profile.

The central youth sits on the bank in red shorts, seen in strict profile, looking out over the water. Behind him a boy stands waist-deep in the river. The poses are simple and calm, almost like figures in a classical frieze.

Man in a straw hat sitting on the grass hugging his knees — Workers on their day off.

At the left, a man in a straw hat sits hugging his knees. The clothes left on the grass, work boots and a hat, suggest these are labourers on their day off, not middle-class visitors.

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A boy calls across the water

Boy in an orange hat standing in the water calling with cupped hands — A boy calls across the river.

At the right, a boy in an orange hat cups his hands to his mouth, calling out across the river. It is one of the only gestures of movement in the picture.

Seurat repainted parts of this area later, around 1887, adding small dots of colour. The rest of the canvas is painted mainly in short criss-cross strokes, before he developed his full pointillist method.

A man stretched out with his dog

Man in a bowler hat lying on the grass beside a brown dog — A reclining man with his dog.

In the foreground, a man in a bowler hat lies on his side, propped on one elbow, a brown dog beside him. Seurat signed the canvas just below. The figure leads the eye into the picture from the bottom left.

Rejected by the Salon

The official Salon of 1884 rejected the painting. Seurat showed it instead at the first exhibition of the Société des Artistes Indépendants that same year. Two years later he exhibited A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, which shows the opposite bank of the river and its middle-class strollers.

Seurat’s first great painting

Seurat was only twenty-four when he finished this huge canvas, three metres wide. He prepared it with many small oil sketches on wooden panels, painted outdoors at Asnières, and detailed drawings of the figures made in the studio. The final picture was composed in his studio, combining these studies into a calm, carefully balanced scene.

Before pointillism

Bathers at Asnières was painted before Seurat developed his famous pointillist technique of tiny dots of pure colour. The brushwork here is a criss-cross pattern of short strokes, called balayé. Some years later, Seurat reworked parts of the painting, especially the boy in the water, adding dots of complementary colour to make the light more vibrant.

Working-class leisure

The figures are not wealthy Parisians. They are young workers, perhaps from the factories visible in the background, resting on their day off. Their clothes, boots and hats suggest working men. Across the river lies the island of La Grande Jatte, where middle-class Parisians stroll in Seurat’s next masterpiece. The two paintings can be read as a pair, showing different social classes on opposite banks.

A classical calm

Although the subject is modern, the figures are still and timeless, like figures in a classical fresco. Seurat admired the frescoes of Piero della Francesca and the calm order of Greek sculpture. He wanted to show modern people with the same dignity and permanence.

Where to see it

Bathers at Asnières hangs in the National Gallery in London. Rejected by the Salon in 1884, it was shown instead at the first exhibition of the Société des Artistes Indépendants. Our hand-painted oil reproduction follows this composition. You can also read about Seurat’s The Circus, or explore our famous landscape paintings.