This languid summer scene has it all: hazy sunshine, men relaxing on the riverbank, boats and bathers. What could be more serene?

But look beyond the life-size figures and you’ll see signs of industrial activity: a railway bridge, for instance, and the puffing chimneys of the factories at Clichy. Like many of his artistic peers, Seurat was fascinated by Paris’s rapidly changing landscape and set about capturing it in paint.

Executed in 1884, Bathers at Asnières was Seurat’s first major composition. Its formal design and statuesque figures nod to his classical training, while the complex interlacing of colours anticipates his embrace of Pointillism. It’s one of the most escapist images in art history. So, go on, dive in!

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