Oil paint on wood
Tate Collection
Works with images
Works on loan
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/georges-seurat-1926" aria-label="More by Georges Seurat" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Georges Seurat</a>
Clothes on Grass
Presented by Alex Reid and Lefevre 1926
architecture
Asnières
bank
bridge
bridges and viaducts
chimney
cities, towns, villages (non-UK)
clothing
clothing and personal items
countries and continents
Courbevoie
France
Ile de la Grande Jatte
industrial
natural features (non-UK)
natural phenomena
objects
places
reflection
river
River Seine
townscape, distant
townscapes / man-made features
water: inland
<p>This is one of a series of small studies in oil on panel for Seurat's first large painting 'Bathing at Asnières', now in the National Gallery. The final composition shows people sunning themselves or bathing by the bank of the Seine at Asnières, a suburb of Paris, with the Courbevoie bridge in the background and the Ile de la Grande Jatte on the right. Seurat is known to have completed fourteen preliminary oil sketches for the painting, as well as ten drawings. Most of the oil sketches appear to have been made on the spot and show that Seurat shifted his position on the bank several times before deciding on his viewpoint. The figures included in some of the sketches were depicted by chance and Seurat dropped some in the final painting.</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2004</em></p>
painting oil paint wood
5 March 1997
5 March 1997
1997-03-05
National Gallery (London, UK)
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk
1997-03-05
Long Loan to the National Gallery
Loan-out
2 October 2009 – 9 May 2010
2010-05-09
2 October 2009 – 17 January 2010
2010-01-17
2009-10-02
Kunsthaus Zürich (Zürich, Switzerland)
http://www.kunsthaus.ch/
11 February 2010 – 9 May 2011
2011-05-09
2010-02-11
Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt (Frankfurt, Germany)
http://www.schirn.de
2009-10-02
Georges Seurat: Figures in Space
Loan-out
27 April 2013 – 29 September 2013
2013-09-29
27 April 2013 – 29 September 2013
2013-09-29
2013-04-27
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen (Rouen, France)
2013-04-27
Normandie Impressionniste
Loan-out
24 May 2014 – 7 September 2014
2014-09-07
24 May 2014 – 7 September 2014
2014-09-07
2014-05-24
Kröller-Müller Museum (Otterlo, The Netherlands)
2014-05-24
Seurat. Master of Pointillism
Loan-out
14 May 2023 – 14 January 2024
2024-01-14
14 May 2023 – 4 September 2023
2023-09-04
2023-05-14
The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, USA)
http://www.artic.edu/aic
5 October 2023 – 14 January 2024
2024-01-14
2023-10-05
Van Gogh Museum (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/
2023-05-14
Van Gogh Along the Seine: Post-Impressionism at Asnières
Loan-out
1 May 2025 – 1 May 2026
2026-05-01
1 May 2025 – 1 May 2026
2026-05-01
2025-05-01
National Gallery (London, UK)
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk
2025-05-01
National Gallery Bicentenary
Loan-out
Clothes on the Grass
support: 162 × 248 mm
frame: 288 × 370 × 41 mm

Presented by Alex Reid and Lefevre 1926
<p>This is one of a series of small studies in oil on <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/panel" title="Glossary definition for 'Panel'"><span>panel</span></a> for Seurat's first large <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> 'Bathing at Asnières', now in the National Gallery. The final <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a> shows people sunning themselves or bathing by the bank of the Seine at Asnières, a suburb of Paris, with the Courbevoie bridge in the background and the Ile de la Grande Jatte on the right. Seurat is known to have completed fourteen preliminary oil sketches for the painting, as well as ten <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/drawing" title="Glossary definition for 'Drawing'"><span>drawings</span></a>. Most of the oil sketches appear to have been made on the spot and show that Seurat shifted his position on the bank several times before deciding on his viewpoint. The figures included in some of the sketches were depicted by chance and Seurat dropped some in the final painting.<br/></p>
Display caption
2004-09-02T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>Georges Seurat</b> 1859-1891</p>
<p><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/seurat-clothes-on-the-grass-n04203" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N04203</span></a> <b>Vêtements sur l'Herbe</b> (Clothes on the Grass) <i>c</i>.1883</p>
<p>Not inscribed 
<br/>Oil on panel, 6 3/8 x 9 3/4 (16 x 25) 
<br/>Presented by Alex. Reid and Lefevre 1926 
<br/><i>Prov</i>: With Ambroise Vollard, Paris; with Eugène Druet, Paris; Maurice Fabre, Aude; with Jos. Hessel, Paris; with Alex. Reid and Lefevre, London 
<br/><i>Exh: Georges Seurat (1859-1891)</i>, Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, December 1908-January 1909 (23) as 'Vêtements sur l'Herbe' 
<br/><i>Lit</i>: Benedict Nicolson, 'Seurat's <i>La Baignade</i>' in <i>Burlington Magazine</i>, LXXIX, 1941, p.140; Henri Dorra and John Rewald, <i>Seurat</i> (Paris 1959), No.89, p.88 repr. as 'Vêtements, Etude pour "Une Baignade",' 1883-4; C.M. de Hauke, <i>Seurat et son Oeuvre</i> (Paris 1961), No.81, Vol.1, p.46, repr. p.47; André Chastel and Fiorella Minervino, <i>L'Opera Completa di Seurat</i> (Milan 1972), No.92, p.96, repr. p.97 Repr: Douglas Cooper, <i>Georges Seurat: Une Baignade, Asnières</i> (London 1945), p.9, fig.9</p>
<p>One of the last of a series of small studies in oil on <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/panel" title="Glossary definition for 'Panel'"><span>panel</span></a> (known as 'croquetons') for Seurat's first large <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> 'Une Baignade, Asnières' (Bathing at Asnières), 1883-4, which was formerly at the Tate but has now been transferred to the National Gallery. The final <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a> depicts people sunning themselves or bathing by the bank of the Seine at Asnières, a suburb of Paris, with the Courbevoie bridge in the background and the Ile de la Grande Jatte on the right. No less than fourteen preliminary oil sketches are known, as well as ten <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/drawing" title="Glossary definition for 'Drawing'"><span>drawings</span></a> in conté crayon.</p>
<p>The great majority of the croquetons appear to have been painted on the spot and show that Seurat shifted his position on the bank several times before deciding on his viewpoint; also that he depicted figures which chance offered, some of which were later abandoned and some retained in the final picture. Benedict Nicolson has suggested however that the Tate Gallery's croqueton was completed in the studio from information supplied by the croqueton now in the Nelson Gallery, Kansas City. Its composition corresponds exactly to the Kansas croqueton (whereas the final picture includes more of the trees on the opposite bank), but omits the two seated figures which appear in the other sketch.</p>
<p><b>Published in</b>: 
<br/>Ronald Alley, <i>Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists</i>, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, pp.681-2, reproduced p.681</p>

Catalogue entry
2004-09-15T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
architecture Asnières bank bridge bridges and viaducts chimney cities, towns, villages (non-UK) clothing clothing and personal items countries and continents Courbevoie France Ile de la Grande Jatte industrial natural features (non-UK) natural phenomena objects places reflection river River Seine townscape, distant townscapes / man-made features water: inland