Georges Seurat, Study for 'La Grande Jatte'

This is one of the earliest studies for A Sunday on La Grande Jatte of 1884–6 (Art Institute of Chicago). Like most of Seurat’s other oil sketches, it is painted on a small board of unprimed wood, which is clearly visible in some areas such as the water. It was very likely painted on location.

As this study was painted in the morning, the sunlight and shadows are the reverse of other studies and of the final painting itself. Shining from the south-east, the sun lights up the foreground. The middle ground is in shade because the sunlight cannot penetrate the dense overhead foliage. Despite the extensive shaded areas, Seurat uses touches of golden-yellow throughout, which provide a warm tone and unify the composition. These touches also contribute to the yellow-green of the sunlit areas.

Although Seurat has included several figures, his focus here is on the colours of the grassy area that fills almost three-quarters of the picture. Green tones dominate the grassy area, but Seurat avoids uniformity by adding strokes of orange, pink, wine red and light blue. These reds and pinks, reinforced with a purplish blue, are also used for the tree trunks. Darker greens and blues indicate shaded areas, while lighter greens, enlivened by touches of orange (for broken sunlight) and blue (for reflected light), are used for less shaded areas. The golden-yellow also appears in the water, where Seurat adds creamy whites and pinks to the light and dark blues. He has used evenly placed horizontal strokes for the water, which contrast with the more agitated, almost scribbled brushstrokes used elsewhere, particularly in the foreground.

Although Seurat’s colour choices were based upon his direct observation of the landscape, they were also informed by his knowledge of contemporary colour theory. The purple tints along the edges of the sunlit areas are based upon a colour-light contrast of purple and green rather than the more conventional complementary colour pairing of purple and yellow.