George Seurat One Fine Sunday

George Seurat

One fine Sunday afternoon I traveled the EL-train towards downtown Chicago with an enthusiastic anticipation flowing through my veins. I was on a journey to the Art Institute of Chicago where I would spend the afternoon whiling time away in a passionate study of the arts. The Institute displayed one painting in particular that more than piqued my interest, the painting; Sunday Afternoon on La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat.

An article in the New Criterion states that Felix Fencon, an late 19th century art critic said that the painting was; "like a Puvis de Chavannes gone modern" (Kramer 2004-page 46). That was a kind remark compared to what some of the other critics had to say at that time. Joris-Karl Huysmans said; "strip his figures of the colored fleas with which they are covered, and underneath there is nothing, no soul, no thought, nothing" (Kramer pg 46). As I neared my destination, I wondered which critic was closer to the mark.

Making my way through the sparse crowds, I entered the building and began my search. Soon I was drawn towards the area where hung Seurat's painting. Elbowing my way forward I gazed with rapt attention at the unique work of art. My eyes were drawn by the piece's form, not the character's form in the piece, but the form's piece as an overall scheme. Initially, my reaction was a lot like Joris-Karl's reaction. The figures seemed to be stilted. I took a deep breath, relaxing as the figures seem to come to life. I found myself listening for the sounds of the lake's water lapping quietly against the shore in the painting's background.

All the characters painted into the picture seemed to be looking for the same thing that I was searching for: a modicum of relief and pleasure on a pleasant afternoon, they at the beach, relaxing in the warm afternoon sun, me at the Institute imagining them.

As I examined the painting in detail I was intrigued to discover that a person could still discern some of the tiny dots Seurat had used in his pointillism style of painting. I recalled that he had been one of the first post-impressionist painters to use that system, and that he had also been one of the art world's pioneers in regards to the use of the color zinc yellow, but I was somewhat disappointed to see that the use of that color (which was supposed to brighten the picture) had faded to a sort of puke brown. I did observe that some of the other colors were still bright, that led me to believe that he had painted the picture with darker shades of color in order to give the painting its form. It seemed to be an interesting method of shading the characters, now that I reflect on it, that method did give the painting depth in such a way that the entire scene is laid out in front of the observer. I imagined that I could walk the entire beachfront and see exactly what Seurat displayed in his painting.

Another unique circumstance that I discovered concerning this particular painting, was that Georges had painted a border around the painting itself, again using the pointillistic method.

As I stepped back from the painting, I realized that such an act accomplish exactly what it was supposed to accomplish, and that is to give the entire scene a depth that would have been much less noticeable if painted in any other manner.