Oil painting “Vue nocturne de la Seine (Seine by night)” Rudolf Quittner ca. 1905

Born in 1872, the Impressionist Rudolf Quittner was an Austrian landscape and genre painter who was a virtuoso at capturing the effects of air and light on canvas. He initially studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna and later became a student at the Académie Julian in Paris, where he focused intensively on landscape painting. Quittner was a pupil of Camille Pissarro and Alfred Sisley and was not only inspired but also encouraged by Claude Monet. He traveled to almost all of Europe, the Orient and North America for study purposes and from 1901 lived in Paris during the summers and spent the winters in Vienna. Rudolf Quittner exhibited at the Biennale di Venezia, in the Vienna Künstlerhaus and at the most important art fairs of his time in Paris, Berlin, Munich, Düsseldorf and Dresden. His paintings were well received by the art critics and journalists of his time and his works are now exhibited in museums such as the Belvedere and the Wien Museum.

As is quite common in Impressionism, the depicted bridge is an idealized combination of different buildings that cross the Seine. Quittner’s main inspiration must have been the bridges Pont Neuf, Pont Marie and Pont Alexandre. The night view of the Seine is a fascinating work that impressively demonstrates the painter’s skill. Quittner deliberately chose to depict two extremely complex scenes at night and in the snow. The few points of light in the picture are masterfully placed and bring an exciting dynamic to the composition.