The Suspension Bridge (Le Pont Suspendue) Landscape with a Bay

Bright colors and quickly painted, broken brushstrokes animate this image of a suspension bridge spanning a bay. The lively handling gives the effect of a windy day with clouds scudding across the horizon and rippling currents in the water.

Armand Guillaumin’s life was as colorful as his canvases. He came late to the formal study of art, at forty-two, after painting during every moment he was free from his day job on the French railroad. After a few false starts, he won 100,000 francs in the 1892 lottery (about $537,000 today), which allowed him to make art full time. He participated in six of the eight Impressionist exhibitions, including the very first one. Like his Impressionist colleagues, Guillaumin’s works were often rejected by the official juries of the Paris Salon, the regular state- sponsored exhibition of contemporary art.