TOW #1 A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte painted by Georges Seurat

This is a painting showing a Sunday Afternoon on the Island of the La Grande Jatte using a revolutionary new art style called pointillism. The painter was Georges Seurat, a French artist who lived from 1851 to 1891; he died at 31 from unknown causes. Georges was a well-respected painter in France for having pioneered a new type of Impressionism that he called "Pointillism." This new art style involved many dots arranged so that when looked from afar it would form a picture. This painting is actually a mirror of an image the Seurat created earlier called Bathers at Asniéres but that was much smaller in comparison. Sunday Afternoon on the Island of the La Grande Jatte is 81 by 121 inches in size and took two years to complete and is currently located in the Art Institute of Chicago. Seurat meticulously placed dots on large canvas and even though it took two years of his life to complete it has remained a masterpiece. The selling price for the painting was 24,000 dollars. Seurat wanted to paint this picture because he believed that if he made a famous work that would exemplify his new style of Impressionism then he would become as famous as Monet. The artist also wanted to show a new type of pigment called zinc yellow. This pigment was new for the time and it created a brilliant sunlight in the painting that was never seen before. Georges painted this Sunday Afternoon on the Island of the La Grande Jatte for the general public and for artists. He wanted the general public to see his work and request it at different salons across France. He wanted artist to see the painting because he wanted them to take notice of an up and coming art form. A way that the Georges used to make his piece stand out was his use of multiple colors on one object. If one were to look very closely at the painting they would see that the lady in the front of the painting has blue dots, black dots and mainly white dots. When the viewer steps back they only see a white face and not a black face. He also creates sunlight in the painting with the zinc yellow pigment allowing the afternoon of the Sunday to be seen by the audience. Georges also uses perspective to make his painting of the scenery actually look as though the viewer is there in real life looking through the lens of pointillism.  Finally the use of pointillism was revolutionary for the time.  During Seurat’s lifetime he was used to seeing works by Monet and other famous impressionism painters. He, however, wanted to make something of himself and create a whole new type of impressionism critics called, pointillism. Seurat was able to create scientifically accurate painting with the use of millions of dots in the process. This shocked the art world because such a style was never before seen in France. Georges was able to make a huge impression in the art world as many other painters such as Paul Signac. He was able to use individual dots to create something larger. Seurat also pioneered another art style called divisionism. This is a technique where different colors are seen without using a mixing palette but rather seen optically. In the painting the viewer can see the sunlight on the painting with out having the image of the people distorted. This can also be seen with the people who are in the shade of the tree in the painting. They do not have a black tinge on their skin, they merely mix with heir surrounding lighting creating shade and an afternoon setting. In my opinion this painting is a masterpiece. I saw the Art Institute of Chicago when my family visited it for a vacation one year and loved it. We got a copy of the painting because my dad and I both liked it a lot and I we have it hanging on a wall. I have actually tried to recreate this type of painting before because I thought that it would be a fun project.  I soon learned that I was mistaken when I thought that the painting would be fun and games. It took me about three weeks to compose something that looked vaguely similar to Seurat’s painting. I realized why it took Georges Seurat two years to complete this masterpiece. I believe that people should appreciate this painting more and that Georges Seurat should not be forgotten.