The "Edge of the Seine", and she is sitting comfortably, aware without letting anyone know she is aware she is being watched. Springtime white silk gloves, the tiny black tie and blue ribbon in her hat are the essence of a single woman of youthful substance, and with the brightening day, Summer's breath in the air.
Gall obviously spied the woman and either committed her beauty to his mind's eye or sketch book, or quite possibly encouraged her to linger while he performed the work in the Plein-Air. Another couple sit on the concrete river wall, the man with his head down into his Parisian newspaper, watching the evolution of Modern Europe take hold. That is what Gall captured better than most; the high point of an era after the devastation of a worldwide war.
At the water level, thirty feet below the street levels in some spots, the Seine cuts through the center of Paris, as the city was built in the bowl the river itself cut in antiquity. Lined with cobbled quays, the Right and Left Banks are lined with trees and shrubs, the cool natural presence are contrasted by the 32 bridges that cross her width. It all adds up one of the most unique and enduring cityscapes in the world, and Gall painted her 20Th Century epochs. A lone river boat is barely visible, sort of suggesting that few ever wish to leave.
