A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte
The painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by George Seurat was started in 1884 and completed sometime in 1886. It measures a whopping 207.6 by 308.0 centimeters (6.81 feet by 10.15 feet) and can be easily viewed in the Art Institute of Chicago on the second floor in room 205 of the Allerton building.
The subject matter seems to focus on individuals enjoying the day in a leisurely fashion. The artist conveys a sense of relaxation and each individual or group of people seem to have forgotten about their busy and fast-paced lives. This picture reminds me of a place in Geneva near the Mill Race Inn along the Fox River where there are trees, dogs, and people behaving in a similar fashion. The sense of relaxation is accented by the man lying down, smoking his pipe, and watching the river. One lady is fishing, as is another man in a boat, while another group of people are practicing their rowing. Various other sailboats are actively in motion. Along the shore, a few groups of people are casually strolling up and down the shaded grass. The sunny day also gives a pleasing, warm, and enjoyable atmosphere to the image.
Seurat has included various figures in his stage-like landscape. Women with umbrellas are trying to shield themselves from getting too much sun, while most of the men are wearing hats. The lady in the far lower right of the painting has a monkey on a leash that even seems to be having a good time with the dog next to him. The lady in the center of the picture is taking her daughter for a walk. Everyone, including the animals, seems to be doing their own thing, either in a small group or by themselves.
The title correlates to the people's formal attire and conveys a sense of the late 1800's to the early 1900's when this painting was composed. Seurat has done an excellent job with the iconography of this painting to give a multitude of ideas. Every time one looks at this piece there seems to be something new and refreshing to notice and enjoy. Seurat uses the technique of optical color mixture, also known as pointillism to really accent and express his ideas and originality. When dots of pure color are placed close together, they blend and create the illusion of other hues.
"When the viewer gets as close to La Grande Jatte as Seurat as when he painted it, the color and brushwork appear quite varied and animated. Although it is so often stated that the surface is a screen of uniform dots, the strokes in fact vary from small dots to long streaks. For tree trunk, the elongated dabs flow along the axis and then change direction to move outward on the branches, as though they were the vital carriers of sap. The strokes similarly follow their imagined reality of the figures and their costumes, flowing in outward curves for bust and hips, vertically for upright torsos, and along the axis of each portion of an arm or leg as it changes direction" (Herbert 173).
The pointillism that has been conveyed in this work, expresses a sense of reality and fullness as well as a three-dimensional feel because of the contrasting colors mixed to produce a feeling of actually being there and observing the people firsthand. Seurat's use of shade enhances his painting and draws our attention to the lighter portions of his work. A border is formed in between the shaded areas of the foreground and the dark foliage above which accentuates the vibrant pastels of the figures in this area. Also, all of the objects in these illuminated areas exhibit lighter colors than those of the shaded areas. Most of the people in the darker areas are wearing dark-colored clothing, while the people in the sunlit areas display radiant colors. The vast majority of the people in this painting evoke a sense of implied lines that focus towards the river. This draws our eye from the right to the left of the painting, while the shoreline guides us toward the top of the panting.
Furthermore,
"The dominant fugue of the final composition, seen closely, is lightened by many grace notes: puffs of smoke from pipe and cigar, bows, flowers, and caricatural faces, in addition to the leaping dog and the monkey"(Herbert 173).
The figures in La Grande Jatte appear to be frozen in time, as if this painting were a photograph.
"The Frozen formality of the figures seems surprising, considering the casual nature of the subject matter; yet it is precisely the calm, formal grandeur that gives the painting its strength and enduring appeal"(Preble395).
Seurat's use of variety throughout his image contributes to the painting's wholeness. If some of the people were not included, the painting would seem to have lost something. This image seems to be in harmony with nature, yet each individual is doing their own thing, contributing to the variety of the overall finished work. Asymmetrical balance can be exhibited throughout the entire painting. The dark (heavy) colors of the shaded areas and dark clothing are counterbalanced by the equal sunlit and light colored areas. Also, the large people near the right edge of the painting are balanced by the black dog and the group consisting of the man smoking his pipe and the man and woman above him. The scale of the people closest to us is larger than those of people further away. The objects get smaller as your eye proceeds down the riverbank. Seurat seems to be emphasizing the lady and child in the center of the painting because they are looking directly at us and consist of spirited colors. Also, his use of shadow above and below these people directs our attention toward them. The man and lady with the monkey are large and dark, drawing our attention due to their size and visual weight. Their position and implied line from their eyes directs us to the left. The dog and monkey are also pointed in the same direction. From here we see a man in the shade smoking a pipe with half of his leg in the sunlight. The riverbank and sunlit areas now direct us toward the middle of the piece where we observe the lady and girl in the center. Beyond them is a multitude of people enjoying themselves. Seurat's display of rhythm and repetition can be visualized by the repeated use of umbrellas and hats worn by almost all of the figures in his finished work.
"Seurat could have used strong colors in big areas for a brighter effect. But without his peculiar means we would not have the marvelous delicacy of tone, the uncountable variations within a narrow range, the vibrancy and soft luster, which makes his canvases, and especially his landscapes, a joy to contemplate" (Schapiro 101).
Seurat has carefully and systematically organized this composition to conform to his ideas and feelings of the time in which he painted this piece.
A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte fits into the period of the late 1800's in France and resembles works of the impressionist painters. The main difference between the impressionists and Seurat was his pointillism technique in which he started a new concept for artists to now follow, just as the impressionists did. Seurat painted various cartoons (studies for another painting) for his final work, which can be seen in La Grande Jatte. Seurat is considered a Neo-Impressionist artist. His painting, La Grande Jatte was instantly taken as a challenge to the impressionist style except he used pointillism instead of the fleeting effect of light to capture the brilliance depicted in his works. Seurat's paintings are easily identified because his style is one of a kind and are carefully and skillfully detailed.
The work of Seurat, VanGogh, Gaugin, and Lautrec was very important in the late 1880's and contributed to establishing the Neo-Impressionism style. Seurat worked diligently and seemed to really concentrate and focus his energy into each piece of work he completed. This is one of the main points that attracted me to the complexity and yet relaxed nature of Seurat's drawings. At the time La Grande Jatte was being completed other Neo-Impressionist artists were also competing with Seurat. It seems he had an intuitive sense about the content and symbolism that he wanted to convey to everyone. His painting appears to be focusing on leisure and the social life in France near the end of the 1800's. This painting has a social theme and is depicting the lifestyle of the middle to upper class in France near the turn of the century.
The content of Seurat's painting depicts the lifestyle, dress, and culture of the people in the late 1800's in France and has strong implications of a relaxed atmosphere. I believe Seurat's meaning was to show how an individual artist can create a multitude of unrelated images and combine them in a single, unified, and relaxed setting while perfecting the concepts of pointillism and other techniques of the time. All the while his art is very structured, yet still pleasing to the eye. This is the main reason I chose this piece of art. It can be very involved and still evoke a sense of simplicity.
"Seurat's huge picture has been granted the status of a classic in the twentieth century, so He achieved his goal. La Grande Jatte has become the most commonly reproduced painting for advertisers and designers who wish to evoke summer leisure, uncontaminated by work and worry" (Herbert 178).
Seurat, who died at an early age, is one of the most impressive artists of the twentieth century who helped to found the Society of Independent Artists and further forge our appreciation and understanding of art as we know it today.
Copyright© 1999 Scott Newby