Bateau sur la Seine shows a small vessel moving across the wide surface of the river, its dark silhouette positioned at the centre of a broad expanse of water. The composition is dominated by the river and sky, both described through pale greys, blues and soft whites that merge across the horizon. A faint suggestion of the riverbank appears to the right, while the wake of the boat spreads outward in long streaks across the water’s surface. Bateau sur la Seine reflects the Impressionist interest in capturing changing atmospheric conditions along the Seine, a subject explored extensively by artists working in the Paris region during the late nineteenth century. André Barbier, who was associated with Claude Monet and the circle of painters working along the river, often depicted similar scenes of boats and waterways. Here the surface is built with broken brushwork and thin layers of paint that suggest shifting light and movement across the water, focusing attention on the expansive atmosphere of the river landscape.