Describe the characteristics of the Asnières-sur-Seine in Asnières (Van Gogh series)'s Background.

Asnières (pronounced /a-nee-air/), now named Asnières-sur-Seine, a town in the northern suburbs of Paris located on the banks of the Seine and near the fortifications of Paris. In the 19th century Parisians took a short train ride to Asnières for boating, including rowing meets; festivals; and the "unrestrained atmosphere" of its dances.  The Goncourt brothers [Edmond and Jules de Goncourt] wrote of Asnieres in their 1867 novel Manette Salomon. Anatole, a painter, meets up with his friends near a riverside cabaret, and they all got into his boat "comrades of both sexes, approximations of painters, species of artists, vague women known only by nicknames, actresses from Grenelle, unemployed lorettes [women supported by their lovers], all tempted by the idea of the day in the country and a drink of claret in a cabaret."Impressionists were interested in painting this area, en plein air (English: in the open), for the interesting scenery: bridges over the Seine, boats along the banks of the river, outdoor cafés and treed settings.Longing for tranquil settings, van Gogh began to paint in Asnières in April 1887 where fellow artists Signac and Bernard lived. Beyond the city fortifications and along the banks of the Seine, lay Asnières and the island of Grand Jatte.  He experimented with a lighter, more colorful palette than used in his early Dutch and Montmartre paintings. When painting with Bernard, they often painted in the open air.  To his sister Wil, Vincent wrote, "While painting at Asnières, I saw more colors than I have ever seen before."  Instead of working in the somber colors of his early work, he embraced the use of color and light of the Impressionists. Also influenced by Pointillism, van Gogh modified his traditional style and used vivid color, shorter brushstrokes and perspective to engage the viewer. His views of the banks of the Seine are an important progression for his later landscape paintings. In Asnières, within walking distance of Theo's flat in Montmartre, Vincent painted parks, cafés, restaurants and the river.Signac commented on meeting up with van Gogh, "I would encounter him at Asnières and at Saint-Ouen.  We painted together on the riverbanks, we lunched at roadside cafes and we returned by foot to Paris via the Avenues of Saint-Ouen and Clichy.  Van Gogh, wearing the blue overalls of a zinc worker, would have little dots of color painted on his shirtsleeves.  Striking quite close to me, he would be yelling, gesticulating and brandishing a large size-thirty, freshly painted canvas; in this fashion he would manage to polychrome both himself and the passers-by."
Theo Impressionist Pointillism Seine in the open air en plein air Grenelle pronounced Wil Asnières-sur-Seine Montmartre paintings Montmartre Goncourt brothers plein air Asnières Saint-Ouen fortifications of Paris