The industrial infrastructure of bridges and factories to the rear is a notable feature of the composition. In spite of the unglamorous function and appearance of these recent additions to suburban Paris, they are painted as subtly variegated and somewhat classicised masses—veiled by the heat haze, and surrounded by trees at each side. Their appearance is punctuated by sails of sailing-boats and the strikingly coloured head of the central figure. These factories and trains were noisy and smelly, but Seurat does not permit this to dominate the painting; for all that the chimneys belch, they seem powerless to disrupt the settled scene.
