The Bridges at Asnieres
Oil on canvas. 52.5 x 65 cm.
Painted in 1887 in Paris, De la Faille 301.

Van Gogh?s appearance in Paris at the Atelier Cormon, at the shop of the worthy Père Tanguy, or on other occasions, as at his brother Theo?s, who was employed by Boussod & Valladon, art dealers, may have repelled or even shocked many, but it fascinated those who could recognize or sense the genius behind the clumsy peasant. One of these was Emile Bernard, a brilliant pioneer of the new movement though not really creative himself. He took van Gogh with him out to Asni?res on the Seine, where his parents (he was only nineteen) had a house. There together they paint the ragged outskirts of the spreading metropolis, which is discovered by this generation of painters.
"The bridges of Asni?res", done in 1887, is a good example of this. It shows van Gogh in full control of the new "pointilliste" technique, which excited not only the young painters but also the much older Camille Pissarro. The system of chromatic analysis by means of short parallel brushstrokes is facilitated by the structural aspect of the new technology here represented, though there remains something rather pedantic about the application of this new system. Van Gogh will soon cast off the fetters of this system, in order to fuse painting and drawing into his own entirely original style.
This picture is thematically similar to a painting by Emile Bernard, dated 1887, which shows laid up boats and a couple bundled in winter coats and seems to have preceded van Gogh?s painting, and betrays more Japanese influence.