DAY 295

A PICTURE’S WORTH 1000 200 WORDS

A Sunday on La Grande Jatte

GEORGES SEURAT, 1884-1886

Georges Seurat (1859-1891) was fascinated with the science of art. His goal was to create visually stunning paintings that stood apart from other works of the time, and he eagerly studied the fields of optics and color theory in order to realize this artistic vision. He contributed to the formation of the aesthetic theory known as divisionism—better known as pointillism—in which small dots of pure color are applied to encourage “optical blending.” (For example, a cluster of blue and red dots would “read” visually as purple.)

At the age of 25, Seurat completed A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, which remains his most famous example of pointillist art. From a distance, the scene appears textured, almost like sandpaper. And if you look closely (a benefit of viewing the piece in person!), you can see the tiny specks of color that create the intricate scene. It took Seurat two years to finish this large painting. He spent months visiting the island in the Seine River of Paris where he made numerous small drawings and oil paintings of the people he found there. All of these artistic observations, including the famous woman with the monkey that you see in the foreground on the right, made their way into the spectacular finished work. —DDG