P ainted in 1904 during the development of the artist’s Fauvist ideas, Les Bords de Seine à Bougival is one of Vlaminck's pivotal landscapes. Although Vlaminck and his Fauve colleagues Matisse and Derain would officially debut their "wild" style at Paris' 1905 Salon d’Automne, Vlaminck had already started to meld the Fauvist ideas into his own personal expression. The present work was featured in the Salon des Indépendants, only six months prior to the 1905 Salon d’Automne where Vlaminck and his colleagues were given the defining epithet fauves by the critic Louis de Vauxcelles.

While Vlaminck's fascination with brilliant colors is evident in the present work, so too is his attention to the dynamic arrangement of form. Similar to the way Cézanne constructed his depictions of the Provençal countryside, Vlaminck pieces together his composition through an interweaving of forms, altogether defying traditional spatial perspective (fig. 1). Vlaminck's passion for color was, however, not unprecedented. In 1901 he saw the first retrospective exhibition of Van Gogh's work, held at the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune in Paris, an experience that was to determine his artistic direction (fig. 2).

The influence of Van Gogh from Vlaminck’s visit to Bernheim-Jeune is visible in the present work, particularly in the color palette as well as subject matter. Writing about the influence of Van Gogh on Vlaminck's art of this period, John Rewald commented, "In spite of all his admiration for all of van Gogh's canvases, he immediately recognized in him a formidable adversary. Here was a man who had the same aspirations as himself, who had translated in his work the same torments and exaltations, the same visions and impressions with which he was struggling. And he had translated them with pure colors and brushstrokes, so expressive that all his emotions seemed to lay bare his canvases. Compared with the pursuit of delicate light effects characteristic of the Impressionists, whose pictures Vlaminck had seen occasionally in Paris, van Gogh suddenly burst forth with an unprecedented intensity of color and design. Back in Chatou, Vlaminck began to assimilate van Gogh's lesson" (John Rewald, Modern Masters, Manet to Matisse, New York, 1975, p. 116).

According to the catalogue raisonné, Vlaminck sold this work immediately following its exhibition in the Salon in 1905, using the proceeds to pay the medical bills for the birth of his daughter Yolande. Since then, it has come to be regarded as one of the most important paintings of the artist's early years.