保羅∙席涅克

古斯塔夫·卡恩夫人，巴黎

厄恩斯特·肖松（購自上述藏家，自此家族傳承，售出：1936年6月5日，1936年，拍品編號40）

皮耶·德勒巴特，巴黎

愛德華·斯皮爾曼，倫敦（屆1960年）

私人收藏，歐洲（1960年7月20日購自上述藏家並售出：紐約蘇富比1999年5月11日，拍品編號115）

私人收藏，加州（購自上述拍賣並售出：紐約蘇富比2008年5月7日，拍品編號9）

A·阿弗烈·陶博曼購自上述拍賣

布魯塞爾，「第五屆XX展覽」，1888年2月，品號2

倫敦，勒菲弗畫廊（亞歷克斯·里德與勒菲弗），「重要十九及二十世紀油畫及雕塑」，
1975年，品號13，圖錄彩色載圖

倫敦，國家美術館，「秀拉與浴者」， 1997年，品號90，圖錄彩色載圖

理查·湯姆森，<在巴黎的梵谷：1887年素描>，《荷蘭初期》，品號3，海牙，1984年9月，第5頁載圖

弗朗索瓦絲·卡金，《席涅克，油畫作品圖錄全集》，巴黎，2000年，品號141，第180頁載圖，第95頁彩色載圖

弗朗索瓦絲·卡金，《席涅克，油畫作品圖錄全集》，巴黎，2000年，品號141，第180頁載圖

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The present work was painted in 1887 at a moment in Signac's career when the loose brushwork of his early Impressionist manner was being enriched with a systematic application of dots of colors, similar to the technique used by his colleague Seurat. This innovative technique, known as pointillisme, marked the beginning of Signac's career as a Neo-Impressionist.

Located to the northwest of Paris, the suburb of Asnières, where the present work was painted became a favored subject for avant-garde landscape painters in the 1880s.  For example, Seurat's major paintings, Une baignade, Asnières and Une dimanche d'été à l'Ile de la Grande-Jatte were painted in the vicinity of Asnières.  Indeed, John Leighton and Richard Thomson have observed that  Asnières was "the site of Seurat's first large painting, [which] became for the next few years a key setting for experimental landscape painting" (J. Leighton & R. Thomson, Seurat and the Bathers [exhibition catalogue], The National Gallery, London, 1997, p. 137).  In 1887 the parallel bridges at Asnières also appeared in paintings by van Gogh (The Bridges, Asnières, 1887, Zürich, Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection) and Emile Bernard (Iron Bridges, Asnières, 1887, New York, Museum of Modern Art).

Significantly, Signac painted three views of the same area, Seine at Asnières, 1885, the present work of 1887 and Bridge at Asnières (The stern of the Tub in the sun), 1888.  He also made a sketch of this very composition on the occasion of its exhibition in Brussels in 1888 (see Fig. 2).  Considering these three compositions in oil, John Leighton and Richard Thomson have remarked, "Spread over three years, as they are, this trio of paintings represent motifs within a few hundred meters of each other. Signac's loyalty to the site is equalled by the consistency with which he represented it. All three pictures render industry and leisure in some kind of balance, setting off sailing boats and riverside bistros against the gasworks, factories and busy bridges of these suburbs. In essence, this is a polarity similar to that employed by Seurat in the Bathers" (J. Leighton & R. Thomson, ibid., pp. 139-140).

The inscription, Op. 155, refers to the artist's numbering system to classify his paintings using the Latin 'Opus' (work).  This practise stemmed from his interest in Charles Henry's studies of the rhythmic and harmonic analogies between music and painting, and Signac systematically employed this method of identification between 1887 and 1891.