A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte

1183 Words3 Pages

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, located in the Art Institute of Chicago, is one of the most recognizable paintings of the 19th century, a painting made by Frenchman Georges Seurat. Finished in 1886, it has gained much of its recognition over the time of its completion; the pop culture of today has played a pivotal role into the popularity of it. An example of that is being apart in one of the most recognizable scene in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, where one of the main characters is solely staring at the painting until he can’t even recognize the artwork. This painting also gets much attention because it was an early example of the style of pointillism, at the time; pointillism was becoming a new way of expressing one self with the new technique. It also brought upon about the way we saw paintings, and what we gained from the artwork as whole. In all this painting has become an icon in the art scene, due to the technique it used, and how much of an impact it has had in today culture.
Georges Seurat was a French born artist born on December 2nd 1859 in Paris, Frrance. He study at École des Beaux-Art, which was one of the most prestige art schools in the world, which is also known for training many of the renounced artist we know. George Seurat left the École des Beaux-Art and began to work on his own; he began to visit impressionist exhibitions, where he gained inspiration from the impressionist painters, such as Claude Monet. Seurat also was interested in the science of art; he explored perception, color theory and the psychological effect of line and form. Seurat experimented with all the ideas he had gained, he felt the need to go beyond the impressionist style, he started to focus on the permanence of paintin...

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...eurat was trying to express to viewer. I have always had a fondness for this particular piece due to seeing it in one of my favorite movie when I was a child; I remember the first time I went to see it, I couldn’t believe how it looked in person. I do believe that the reference of pop culture had made this piece an icon in the art scene, just like the Mona Lisa or American Gothic, if none of these painting were reference in today’s pop culture, we wouldn’t appreciate them as much as we do. It’s the icon status that makes these paintings relatable to everyone, and such a fascination to understand why they have such status.

Works Cited

"Georges Pierre Seurat." 2013. The Biography Channel website. Nov 15 2013, 12:05

Seurat, Georges, et al. Georges Seurat. Fabbri Editori, 1966.

Walther, Ingo F. Paul Gauguin, 1848-1903: the primitive sophisticate. Taschen, 2000.

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