River's Edge 1884

Georges Seurat created this painting, River's Edge, using oil on panel, and it currently resides at the Hyde Collection Art Museum. The painting presents a river landscape, shimmering with reflected light and fragmented colour. Seurat's short, broken brushstrokes of blues, yellows and greens create a mosaic-like surface, dissolving the forms into pure optical sensation. Seurat was deeply engaged with theories of colour and perception. The painting is not just a representation of a scene, but a structured exploration of how we perceive light and colour. It challenges the traditional artistic conventions of smooth, blended brushwork and instead embraces a scientific approach to visual experience. The way the brushstrokes are applied invites the viewer to actively assemble the image in their own perception, questioning the stability of representation itself. Ultimately, River's Edge reflects Seurat’s interest in pushing the boundaries of what painting could be. It operates as a visual experiment, inviting the viewer to reconsider how we see and understand the world through the interplay of colour, light, and form.