Tip: move over the painting to use the lens.

Oil Sketch for "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte — 1884"

Artist: Georges Seurat (French, 1859–1891)
Date: 1884
Medium: Oil on panel
Size: 15.5 × 24.3 cm (6 1/8 × 9 9/16 in.); Framed: 25.4 × 35.6 cm (10 × 14 in.)
Made in: France
Style: Post-Impressionism
Where to see it: Art Institute of Chicago

Gift of Mary and Leigh Block · CC0 Public Domain · Art Institute of Chicago · image via Wikimedia Commons · see it at the museum ↗

Notes from the museum

This small oil on thin wood panel is one of over 20 painted studies Georges Seurat made for A Sunday on La Grande Jatte—1884 . Although at first glance its composition seems similar to the finished canvas, its 20 or more figures have little to do with the final version. The trio at right with an elderly seated figure, for example, was completely rethought in the completed work, where they are replaced by a man in a top hat and a woman walking a monkey on a leash. This ironic combination of grand solemnity and wry humor is totally absent from the sketch’s awkwardly positioned figures.

Text: Art Institute of Chicago (open access). Our full story for this work is coming soon.

Slow Look

The whole picture Let your eyes wander. Where do they want to rest?
The light Find the brightest spot. What is it showing you?
The edges Look at what is half cut off at the borders.
One small detail Choose one tiny thing and stay with it for a while.
The whole picture again Step back. Has it changed for you?

About Georges Seurat

Georges Pierre Seurat was a French post-Impressionist artist. He devised the painting techniques known as chromoluminarism and pointillism and used conté crayon for drawings on paper with a rough surface.

Painter profile →