Sooke, Alastair – The Bell Bookshop https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk Henley-on-Thames Thu, 11 Sep 2025 12:26:18 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9 https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/cropped-Bell-Background-Blue-32x32.png Sooke, Alastair – The Bell Bookshop https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk 32 32 Seurat – Bathers at Asnieres https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/product/seurat-bathers-at-asnieres/ Tue, 23 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/?post_type=product&p=51482 One Painting, One Story series explores the making and meaning of Seurat's Bathers at Asnières.]]> Although beloved today, Georges Seurat’s Bathers at Asnières was rejected from the Salon exhibition to which it was first submitted. The work, painted when the artist was only 24 years old, was intended to make a statement. Meticulously planned, its detailed composition starkly contrasts with the spontaneity sought by Seurat’s Impressionist peers.

The scene is suffused with bright, hazy sunlight but evokes an eerie stillness. Each figure appears to exist in isolation. Alastair Sooke unravels this intriguing composition, which presents a picture of a society clearly divided by class, and explores how this monumental painting preceded A Sunday on La Grande Jatte – 1884 and Seurat’s ascent to becoming a giant of modern art.

Published by National Gallery Global/Distributed by Yale University Press

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