Short Introduction

The urban landscape genre often features various infrastructures, among which the bridge, a civil engineering masterpiece designed to overcome obstacles, both natural and artificial, to ensure continuous communication, is extremely popular. The presence of bridges in art often provides us with two visions of the same infrastructure: the real and everyday one that we observe in reality with our own eyes, and the other presented through various interpretations in paintings. It becomes possible to compare ordinary photographs of some bridges with paintings on the same theme created by renowned artists to understand how each of them conveyed their personal vision of the structure in question. Let's proceed with specific examples: Canaletto and the Old Walton Bridge, Vincent van Gogh and the Langlois Bridge, André Derain and the Waterloo Bridge, and Edward Hopper's Macomb's Dam Bridge. What has been described will be finally complemented, in the concluding part of the narrative, by contemporary viewpoints on the theme offered by the artists from Artmajeur. Now, we are ready to cross all these bridges!

Canaletto, Old Walton Bridge (1754). Oil-on-canvas. Dulwich Picture Gallery, London Picture Gallery, London.

Canaletto and the Old Walton Bridge

Reality: The Walton Bridge, known as the Old Walton Bridge, was the initial structure built over the River Thames, connecting Walton-on-Thames and Shepperton in Surrey, England. The old Walton Bridge had four central stone piers, connected by three arches made of wooden beams and trusses. The central arch had a spectacular span of 39 meters, at the time, the widest unsupported span in England. The other two main arches measured 13 meters each. The old Walton Bridge, erected between 1749 and 1750, still exists today, although it has undergone two reconstructions, the most recent of which took place in 1905.

Painting: In Canaletto's painting dated 1754, the bridge undergoes some modifications: it appears wider and more curved than it actually was. In addition, its depiction serves as a pretext to discuss some prominent figures of the time, as the painting immortalizes, among other recognizable figures, the same patron of the masterpiece: Thomas Hollis, who appears alongside another character near the center of the painting, located near the riverbank. Another peculiarity of the work is the presence of imposing stormy clouds that, hovering above the bridge, seem to highlight the contrast between the force of nature and the underlying engineering work.

Vincent van Gogh, The Langlois Bridge (1888). Oil on canvas, 59x74 cm. Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo.

Vincent van Gogh and the Langlois Bridge

Reality: In this case, the reality observed with the eyes closely resembles the one depicted, as the Langlois Bridge, which became famous thanks to Vincent's work of the same name, has actually been recreated a few kilometers from the center of Arles. It has the same shape as the one that once stood in Fos, where it was originally painted by the Dutch painter. In fact, the desire to pay tribute to the master allowed for the recreation of a landscape similar to the one admired and depicted by Vincent, where one could contemplate a drawbridge with beams, whose footpath lifted by pivoting at one end was connected by chains to one or two bascule sections.

Painting: The aforementioned bridge was a subject investigated by the painter on several occasions, as he portrayed it in various versions during the spring of 1888. In one of these, it spans the canal at the center of the image, displaying its two massive abutments and its wooden roadway supported by beams, while above, walkways are anchored to two scaffolds. Shifting attention to the watercourse, lush grass grows on its right bank, while the left bank appears rather dry, albeit enriched by the presence of some women washing laundry on the shore. Finally, it is worth highlighting that the figurative interpretation of the bridge in question, quite luminous and in a Post-Impressionist style, was also created with reference to the styles of Japanese prints, of which Vincent was an avid collector.

Waterloo Bridge, River Thames, London, England.

André Derain and the Waterloo Bridge

Reality: The Waterloo Bridge is a road structure that allows the passage of vehicles and pedestrians, crossing the River Thames in central London, between the Blackfriars Bridge and the Hungerford Bridge. Today, the second version of the bridge is visible, although during Derain's time, it was the one designed by John Rennie between 1807 and 1810 and inaugurated in 1817 that stood. The latter was made of granite, had nine arches separated by double Doric stone columns, and was a total length of 748.6 meters. Significant problems with the piers of this bridge were noted starting from 1884, caused by the erosion of the river's flow, which had damaged their foundations. In the subsequent years, the problems escalated to the point that in the 1930s, the London County Council decided to demolish the infrastructure and replace it with a new one designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott.

Painting: The Waterloo Bridge is part of the series of paintings created by Derain during his stay in London on behalf of the art dealer Ambroise Vollard, during which the painter offered a Fauvist interpretation of the banks of the Thames. In this 1906 masterpiece, the central visual element is the Waterloo Bridge seen from the Victoria Embankment, a perspective that was rendered using a pointillist technique to enhance pure colors. These colors, capable of creating a "mosaic on canvas" effect, triumph in vibrant shades of blue, as well as green, pink, and yellow. Curiosity: The aforementioned bridge was also depicted by the French Impressionist painter Claude Monet in his series of 41 works created between 1900 and 1904, as well as by the English Romantic artist John Constable, whose painting depicting its inauguration is displayed at Anglesey Abbey in Cambridgeshire.

Edward Hopper, Macomb's Dam Bridge (1935). Brooklyn Museum, New York.

Macomb's Dam Bridge and Edward Hopper

Reality: The Macombs Dam Bridge is a swing bridge that spans the Harlem River in New York City, connecting the neighborhoods of Manhattan and the Bronx. The first bridge in this location, built in 1814 as a dam, was dismantled in 1858. Three years later, it was replaced by a wooden swing bridge known as the Central Bridge, although the current steel structure of the Macombs Dam Bridge was built between 1892 and 1895, and the 155th Street viaduct between 1890 and 1893. Both of these structures were designed by Alfred Pancoast Boller and appear faithfully in Hopper's realistic interpretation of the twentieth century.

Painting: "Macomb's Dam Bridge" is an oil painting by the American master created in 1935, aiming to faithfully depict the Macombs Dam Bridge in New York City, presenting it within a calm and deserted scene, quite unusual for the usual bustling traffic on the bridge.

MANHATTAN MEMORIES (1999)Painting by Joseph Michetti

Bridges and Contemporary Paintings

MANHATTAN MEMORIES by Joseph Michetti

Reality: The Manhattan Bridge is a structure completed in 1912 that crosses the East River in New York City, connecting Lower Manhattan at Canal Street with Downtown Brooklyn at the Flatbush Avenue Extension. Today, as at its inauguration in 1909, the Manhattan Bridge boasts a central span of 1,470 feet, as well as two side spans suspended in the air, each measuring 725 feet, all supported by four main cables, each composed of over 35,000 individual wires.

Painting: Michetti's realism offers us a faithful reproduction of the aforementioned bridge, as well as the iconic neighborhood of Manhattan taking shape in the background, recognizable also by the presence of architectural elements that sadly no longer exist today: the Twin Towers. In fact, as indicated by the artist himself, the work is faithful to the times in which it was conceived and created, namely, the distant year 1999. However, the deep interest in the subject and the city in question becomes explicitly clear when we read about the Artmajeur artist. Michetti is, indeed, an American painter who trained at the School of Industrial Arts in Manhattan, whose work often features a predisposition for nostalgic themes, described in full accordance with the language of contemporary realism. These stylistic elements are achieved through an extremely precise technique, aimed at keeping the artist focused on the same subject for several consecutive months.

LONDON. TOWER BRIDGE. CITYSCAPE. (2021)Painting by Vita Schagen

LONDON. TOWER BRIDGE. CITYSCAPE. by Vita Schagen

Reality: The Tower Bridge, an iconic symbol of London built between 1886 and 1894, has a total length of 240 meters and consists of two imposing towers standing 65 meters tall, connected by two upper-level horizontal walkways. Additionally, it features a central pair of bascules that can open to allow the passage of maritime traffic. With these characteristics, it remains an essential roadway, facilitating approximately 40,000 crossings per day, freely accessible to both vehicles and pedestrians.

Painting: The Impressionist style shapes a 2021 depiction of the aforementioned bridge, which, in terms of its representation, brings to mind the similar subjects interpreted by Monet, Caillebotte, Pissarro, and Renoir. Regarding the brightness presented in Schagen's work, it is more akin to that of "Bridge at Chatou" (1875), a masterpiece by the latter French master. However, while Renoir's blues and yellows triumph boldly, the Artmajeur artist prefers more subdued colors, alluding to a white luminosity that comes to life in some orange and celestial details of the infrastructure. Lastly, Vita Schagen is a Dutch artist whose creative process primarily starts with ideas that are later translated onto canvas. Schagen herself acknowledges the results of this figurative approach, which leans clearly towards Impressionism, interpreted through a technique that, on some occasions, aims to create rich relief layers of paint.

LE PONT DES SOUPIRS (2023)Drawing by Ananou

THE BRIDGE OF SIGHS by Ananou

Reality: The Venetian Bridge of Sighs, constructed in the 17th century with Istrian stone in the Baroque style, adhered to the taste of its commissioner, Doge Marino Grimani, whose coat of arms is sculpted on the structure itself. Located not far from St. Mark's Square, the bridge crosses the Rio di Palazzo, connecting the Doge's Palace to the New Prisons via a double passage designed as a route for prisoners who had to move from the prisons to the offices of the State Inquisitors for their trials. The name of the bridge is said to derive from the sighs of the condemned who crossed it, tragically thinking they were seeing the outside world for the last time.

Painting: Today, sighs are only for the beauty of the bridge in question, faithfully captured in shades of blue and white by the French artist Ananou, who sought to pay tribute to the city of Venice by realistically reproducing one of its most iconic landmarks. As for the Artmajeur artist, Ananou generally creates meticulous drawings, aimed at highlighting compositional mastery, primarily achieved through the use of pen technique on paper. This expressive mode explores the human figure, as well as animals, still lifes, architecture, and occasionally even abstract forms. All of this underscores the artist's versatility and their desire to continuously evolve to give voice to the most diverse aspects of reality, primarily expressed in shades of blue and white.