This work is evidently a variant of Le pont d'Asnieres, which Bernard executed in 1887, the year that he with his friend Anquetin initiated a movement under the name "Personal and Lovely Simplicism." Later on, with the important contribution of Gauguin, the movement came to be known as Synthetism or Symbolism. The painting depicts a view of the Seine embankment at Asnieres, in the vicinity of Paris. The diagonal river bank divided the painting into two nearly equal parts. A railway bridge over the river, being crossed by a train, can be seen in the upper part of the canvas, as can another bridge at a distance. Avoiding linear perspective, the artist placed the bridges on two different planes, much like in oriental paintings. Two black flat figures under the closer bridge dominate the scene, and the shapes are flattened and outlined by thick, colored contours. All the shapes are geometricized into rectangles and cones. The rectangular shapes are rhymed with the top-hat of the man, and the pointed ones with the hood of the woman. The rhythmical movement of the lines is reinforced by a decorative play of wide areas of color. The overall tendency is not only to flatten but also to simplify the space, the shapes, and the colors, an effect which is most pronounced in the two black silhouetted figures. Yet, within the flat areas of color, free brush-strokes can be seen, mainly at the patches of green grass near the overturned boat and its rack to the left. This is a farewell to Impressionism, from which Bernard departed in 1887.