''Le Pont aux Anglais, soleil couchant'' is an oil painting created in 1905 by the French artist Robert Antoine Pinchon (1886–1943). Associated with the new generation of l'École de RouenFrançois Lespinasse, ''Robert Antoine Pinchon'', Association Les amis de l'École de Rouen, 2007Edition du Groupe des XXX (trente), Paris, Rouen, December 1907
/ref> Pinchon executed this work in a

Post-Impressionist Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction a ...

style with a subdued Fauve or Neo-Impressionist palette of golden yellows and incandescent blues. The dynamic image of the train in Pinchon's painting is an homage to the emerging industrialized world. The work was exhibited in April 1905 at the Galerie Legrip in Rouen (see photograph), and again at the

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen () is an art museum in Rouen, in Normandy in north-western France. It was established by Napoléon Bonaparte in 1801, and is housed in a building designed by and built between 1877, and 1888. Its collections in ...

; inauguration 13 November 1909. In the collection of François Depeaux at the time, ''Le Pont aux Anglais, soleil couchant'' was purchased by the

in 1909 where it currently forms part of the permanent collection.

Description

''Le Pont aux Anglais, soleil couchant'' is an oil painting on canvas in a horizontal format with dimensions 54 x 73 cm (21.25 by 28.75 in), signed ''R Pinchon'' lower left. The composition painted en plein air (sur le motif, in the open air), is dominated by the Pont aux Anglais,

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France. It is in the prefecture of Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one ...

, with receding perspective tending towards the right side of the canvas. A locomotive and train cars pass over the bridge leaving a trail of steam in the direction of the receding perspective, carrying the eye towards the right, where below, a boat passes carrying two people a short distance from Le Pont aux Anglais. The rhythmic arches of the bridge and the speeding train create a sense of dynamism and modernity not often found in Post-Impressionist works. The colors Pinchon has chosen to depict this late afternoon scene are both warm and cool. The golden yellow highlights generated by the setting sun, off the canvas to the left, are juxtaposed against the grays, blues, violets and greens of the background hillside, the bridge and its massive base pillars, the poplar trees and the River

Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plat ...

in the foreground.

Le Pont aux Anglais

The first railway station of Rouen was built on the left bank in 1843. The government authorized the continuation of the line to Le Havre and Dieppe the same year. It was therefore decided to build a bridge to the end of the Brouilly island (now connected to the Lacroix island), leading to the tunnel under the Côte Sainte-Catherine. The bridge, located in the Rouen metropolitan area, linking Paris and Le Havre, was named the ''English Bridge'' because many workers who built it were of English nationality. It is also called the Viaduc d'Eauplet, after the neighborhood where it is located.Pont aux Anglais (1), Jacques Tanguy, December, 2006
/ref> The bridge originally consisted of wooden arches resting on piles of masonry. It was located a little further downstream than the existing bridge. It was inaugurated in 1847. A few months after its inauguration, in 1848, two arches on the side of the left bank were set on fire during a riot. It was then rebuilt. In 1856 the wooden arches were replaced by cast iron. This is the bridge that Pinchon painted. These arches proved fragile and it was decided to build a new bridge in 1912. Despite its destruction during the Second World War, the bridge completed and operational in 1914 is still used today.

1909

Robert Antoine Pinchon's first

solo exhibition A solo show or solo exhibition is an art exhibition, exhibition of the work of only one artist. Rather than a group of artists who collaborate to form an exhibition. The artwork may be paintings, drawings, etchings, collage, sculpture, or photogr ...

in Paris took place on 15–25 March 1909 at the Galerie des Artistes Modernes run by Chaine and Simonson, with thirty works listed in the catalogue. The show resulted in both sales and press coverage. This was followed by another show at the Galerie Legrip in Rouen on 30 June. A few months later, on 13 November, the

, opened a show with fifty-two paintings: three by

Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, ; ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of Impressionism painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During his ...

, nine by

Alfred Sisley Alfred Sisley (; ; 30 October 1839 – 29 January 1899) was an Impressionist landscape painter who was born and spent most of his life in France, but retained British citizenship. He was the most consistent of the Impressionists in his dedic ...

, three by Armand Guillaumin, one by

Auguste Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; ; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French people, French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionism, Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially femininity, fe ...

, thirteen by Albert Lebourg, five by Joseph Delattre, two by Charles Frechon and four by Robert Antoine Pinchon (now almost twenty-three years old); ''Péniches dans la brume, Vue pris du Mont-Garan, Effet de neige'', and ''Le Pont aux Anglais, soleil couchant''. In 1909 Pinchon, Pierre Dumont, Pierre Hodé and Eugène Tirvert founded the Société Normande de Peinture Moderne, attracting the participation of

Georges Braque Georges Braque ( ; ; 13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th-century List of French artists, French painter, Collage, collagist, Drawing, draughtsman, printmaker and sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his alliance with ...

Henri Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual arts, visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, ...

Raoul Dufy Raoul Dufy (; 3 June 1877 – 23 March 1953) was a French painter associated with the Fauvist movement. He gained recognition for his vibrant and decorative style, which became popular in various forms, such as textile designs, and public build ...

, Maurice de Vlaminck,

André Derain André Derain (, ; 10 June 1880 – 8 September 1954) was a French artist, painter, sculptor and co-founder of Fauvism with Henri Matisse. In 2025, all of Derain’s work entered the public domain in the United States. Life and career Early ...

Albert Marquet Albert Marquet (; 27 March 1875 – 14 June 1947) was a French painter. He initially became one of the Fauve painters and a lifelong friend of Henri Matisse. Marquet subsequently painted in a more naturalistic style, primarily landscapes, bu ...

Othon Friesz Achille-Émile Othon Friesz (6 February 1879 – 10 January 1949), who later called himself Othon Friesz, a native of Le Havre, was a French artist of the Fauvist movement. Biography Othon Friesz was born in Le Havre, the son of a long line of ...

Francis Picabia Francis Picabia (: born Francis-Marie Martinez de Picabia; 22January 1879 – 30November 1953) was a French avant-garde painter, writer, filmmaker, magazine publisher, poet, and typography, typographist closely associated with Dada. When consid ...

and Roger de La Fresnaye.L'Atelier du temps
The same year, four paintings by Pinchon entered the collection of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen.Une ville pour l’impressionnisme, Monet, Pissarro et Gauguin à Rouen, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen, 2010
(pdf)

Related works

File:Robert Antoine Pinchon, Rouen, Le Pont aux Anglais.jpg, Robert Antoine Pinchon, c.1905, Rouen, ''Le Pont aux Anglais''. Possibly a study for ''Le Pont aux Anglais, soleil couchant'' File:Robert Antoine Pinchon, 1905, Le Pont aux Anglais, Rouen, oil on canvas, 32 x 47 cm, private collection.jpg, Robert Antoine Pinchon, 1905, ''Le Pont aux Anglais, Rouen'', oil on canvas, 38 x 46 cm, private collection. It is unclear whether this work was painted before of after ''Le Pont aux Anglais, soleil couchant'' File:Vincent van Gogh - Bridges across the Seine at Asnieres.jpg,

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artworks ...

, 1887, ''Bridges across the Seine at Asnieres'', oil on canvas, 52 × 65 cm (20.5 × 25.6 in), Foundation E.G. Bührle, Zürich File:Claude Monet, Impression, soleil levant.jpg,

, 1872, '' Impression, soleil levant'' (''Impression Sunrise''), oil on canvas, 48 × 63 cm,

Musée Marmottan Monet Musée Marmottan Monet () is an art museum in Paris, France, dedicated to artist Claude Monet. The collection features over three hundred Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings by Claude Monet, including his 1872 ''Impression, Sunrise''. ...

, Paris File:Claude Monet - The Railway Bridge at Argenteuil (Philadelphia).jpg,

, 1873, ''The train bridge in Argenteuil (Le Pont du chemin de fer à Argenteuil)'', oil on canvas, 54.3 × 73.3 cm (21.4 × 28.9 in),

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) is an List of art museums#North America, art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at ...

File:Pissaro-pont-muséeRouen.jpg,

Camille Pissarro Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro ( ; ; 10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but then in the Danish West Indies). ...

, 1896, ''Le Pont Boieldieu à Rouen, soleil couchant, temps brumeux'',

File:The Bridge over the Allier at Pont-du-Chateau in Winter 1886 Albert Lebourg.jpg, Albert Lebourg, 1886, ''The Bridge over the Allier at Pont-du-Chateau in Winter'', oil on canvas, 43.6 x 77.7 cm, Private Collection File:Albert Lebourg, before 1918, Paris, l'écluse de la Monnaie. Soleil d'hiver, oil on canvas, 81.5 x 115.5 cm, Musée d'Orsay, Paris..jpg, Albert Lebourg, before 1918, ''Paris, l'écluse de la Monnaie. Soleil d'hiver'', oil on canvas, 81.5 x 115.5 cm,

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) () is a museum in Paris, France, on the Rive Gauche, Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts railway station built from 1898 to 1900. The museum holds mai ...

, Paris

References

External links

Pinchon Robert Antoine, Joconde, Musées de France

Une ville pour l’impressionnisme, Monet, Pissarro et Gauguin à Rouen, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen, 4 juin – 26 septembre 2010

Robert Antoine Pinchon, paintings

Robert Antoine Pinchon, Base Arcade, Culture.gouv.fr

*
Une ville pour l’impressionnisme : Monet, Pissarro et Gauguin à Rouen. Dossier pédagogique
', Rouen, Musée des Beaux-Arts, 2010.

Site of the Amis de l'École de Rouen
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