GEORGES SEURAT (1859-1891)

In Hiver en banlieue, Seurat "freely sketched a broad snow-covered terrain that looks across the river to a long stretch of buildings punctuated by factory chimneys. Farther back on the left, huge buildings loom out of the thick air. To render the snow, Seurat used an unusually limited palette, mostly white mixed with blue, plus some warmer tones in the sky. The warm brown of the panel, enhanced by dark purplish blue, provides most of the color for the buildings. The blues above look like plumes of industrial smoke, but they may only indicate darker portions of the leaden sky. In the foreground diagonal blue streaks suggest a footpath" (exh. cat., op. cit.,1991, p. 122).