Room 44

The figures in Seurat’s Bathers at Asnières seem still even beside an active river. Look at their spacing and the repeated profiles, then follow the line of the bank into the distance. A scene of leisure has been arranged with considerable care. Cézanne’s landscapes offer another way of building a picture, with patches of colour describing rock, trees and rising ground. Painters grouped as Post-Impressionists took several directions beyond the quick impression of changing light. Compare a solid-looking shape with the marks that create it. Cézanne’s Bathers is currently away on loan, so use the other paintings in this room when making that comparison.