page_title: Seine (Van Gogh series)
section_title: The Seine
hierarchical_section_title: Seine (Van Gogh series) / Background / The Seine
caption_attribution_description: English: This rare hand colored map of Paris and Environs is a copper plate engraving dating to 1855. Produced by the respected mid 19th century American Mapmaker J. H. Colton. Map covers the Seine valley in a roughly 30 mile radius of Paris. Versailles appears in the extreme southwest and Vitry in the extreme northeast. The whole is beautifully detailed down to individual buildings. A beautiful and superbly detailed map.
context_page_description: Seine is the subject and location of paintings that Vincent van Gogh made in 1886. The Seine has been an integral part of Parisian life for centuries for commerce, travel and entertainment. Here van Gogh primarily captures the respite and relief from city life found in nature.
  A few of the paintings were made in Paris and the rest in the northwestern suburbs of Paris in Clichy and Asnières. Through these works the audience can see a transition in his work from one of dark colors and serious themes to more joyous use of color and light and choice of themes.
  In the Netherlands van Gogh was influenced by great Dutch masters as well as cousin-in-law Anton Mauve a Dutch realist painter who was a leading member of the Hague School. In Paris van Gogh was exposed to and influenced by Impressionism, Symbolism, Pointillism, and Japanese woodblock print genres which were overtime integrated into his works. The spring of 1887 seemed to trigger an awakening within van Gogh where he experimented with the genres to develop his personal style.
context_section_description: The Seine (Latin: Sequana) is named for its snake-like course from inland France to the English Channel at Le Havre.  Numerous locks and bridges are found in the river Seine.  The Seine is rich in history, provides commercial navigation and has been a source of inspiration to artists for centuries.  For more than 4,500 years, the Seine has provided a means of transportation.  As Paris grew, the Seine was important for trade of commodities such as firewood, grain and wine.  Efficient travel, though, was not possible until canals were added and river depths were controlled in the mid to late 19th century.  Many of key Paris buildings and monuments are located along the Seine.
  Starting in the 1860s Impressionists left their studios to paint en plein air (in the open air) and one of their first subjects was the Seine.  Paul Gauguin painted Pont d'Iéna, the future site of the Eiffel Tower, when the area was filled with homes and gardens. From Notre Dame de Paris, Camille Pissarro painted the Louvre. Armand Guillaumin captured the smoke spewing factory chimneys of Ivy. In 1874 Alfred Sisley made the graphic paintings of the floods of Le Port-Marly, located near Paris.  Claude Monet, Édouard Manet and Auguste Renoir painted bridges, trees and sailboats at Argenteuil located in the northwestern suburbs of Paris. And van Gogh and others painted the Seine.
caption: 1855 Colton Map of Paris area and the river Seine
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