A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, Post Impressionism
Factual Information:
From:
Period: 1884 - 1886
Period: 1884 - 1886
General Information:
This painting by Seurat is a post impressionist painting. It employs a technique that had never been done before, but had been hypothesized to work, called pointillism. This technique involved dividing colors into their component parts and applying those colors to the canvas in tiny little dots that become comprehensible from a distance. It was theorized that it would produce better colors than just mixing the colors normally. The pointillism style had a few drawbacks however, it makes the paintings look grainy, and it takes a very long time to do, as each single dot must be applied carefully, calculating each dots impact on the overall color of the work. The work is not just a experiment, but also a showing of recognition of the tenuous an shifting class relationships. The painting shows everyone in their Sundays best at a park. The classes are mixing and are in close proximity, showing a closer distinction of the classes. The painting is post impressionist, because it uses vivid colors, thick application of paint, distinctive and distinguishable evidence of a bush stroke, and a bigger use of geometric forms.
Why This Artwork?
This painting was chosen to represent the Post-Impressionist movement, as well as show an important concept at this time, pointillism. This is one of the few pointillism paintings, making it an important one to show.