Three sailboats with tall masts cluster in the foreground, their hulls painted in dark blue, white, and yellow, floating close together on the rippling surface of the Seine. The water is alive with reflections: the boats’ masts and hulls shimmer in vertical streaks of blue, green, purple, and white, broken by swift, visible brushstrokes that suggest movement and light. To the left, a round, moored dinghy sits at the river’s edge, its interior loosely sketched with curved, energetic lines.

Behind the boats, the green riverbank rises, dotted with a tall poplar tree and several ochre-roofed houses that lean into the left margin of the scene. The sky above is filled with shifting clouds, painted in pale blue, lavender, and hints of pink, their forms echoed in the water below. Distant sails and smokestacks appear along the horizon, rendered with quick, impressionistic touches that blur their outlines and suggest atmospheric haze.

The entire composition is built from loose, confident brushwork, with color laid down in patches and dashes rather than blended smoothly, leaving the texture of the canvas visible in many areas. The palette is dominated by cool blues and greens, accented by the warm orange of rooftops and the creamy yellow of the nearest boat. A pale wooden plank or gangway rests diagonally across the yellow boat in the lower right, its shadow falling onto the deck below.

In the distance, faint smokestacks and factory buildings are visible along the horizon, their vertical forms softened by a bluish haze. The upper left corner of the painting is bordered by the edge of a house, its ochre walls and red roof sharply outlined against the greenery. A patch of bright sunlight illuminates the water near the center, creating a pale, almost white reflection that contrasts with the darker blues and purples around it.

Thin brown lines, painted with quick, fluid strokes, define the masts and rigging, some of which extend beyond the top edge of the canvas. Claude Monet painted Sailboats on the Seine at Petit-Gennevilliers in 1874.