Georges SeuratFrench, 1859–1891A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte
A Sunday on La Grande Jatte — 1884
May one see it?
Yes, receiving visitors
Art Institute of Chicago
Room240Chicago, United States
On public display.
- Checked
- 4 hours ago
- In this state since
- Aug 16, 2026
- Source
- The museum's own collection data
About the painting
A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (French: Un dimanche après-midi à l'Île de la Grande Jatte) was painted from 1884 to 1886 and is Georges Seurat's most famous work. It is recognised as a leading example of pointillist technique and as a founding work of the neo-impressionist movement.
Seurat's composition, painted on a large canvas, includes a number of Parisians at a park on the banks of the River Seine. It is held in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Particulars
What it shows
In the catalog
Sources
- Art Institute of Chicago: the museum's own open data · fetched 4 days ago
- Image: Wikimedia Commons — Public domain (PD-Art)
Meanwhile, in the life of Georges Seurat
The whole life1 May – 20 June 1883
First exhibited work: the portrait of Aman-Jean at the Salon
Seurat's first exhibited work is a Conté crayon drawing of Edmond Aman-Jean shown at the Paris Salon of 1883; from that year until his death he exhibits at the Salon, the Salon des Indépendants, Les XX in Brussels and other shows.
1884
Meeting Paul Signac
At the first exhibition of the Groupe des Artistes Indépendants Seurat meets Paul Signac, a future follower of pointillism; Signac later wrote that “Bathers” is painted in broad flat strokes and looks less bright than the Impressionists' canvases, but that the systematic separation of light, shade and local colour gives it harmony.
15 May – 30 June 1884
The Salon rejects “Bathers”: a debut at the Indépendants
The official Salon rejects “Bathers at Asnières”, and Seurat shows the painting instead at the Groupe des Artistes Indépendants, which runs from 15 May to 30 June 1884 — his debut as a painter.
1886
Nine works, the public's mockery and the critics' defence
At the last Impressionist exhibition Seurat presents nine works; the critics R. Marx and Félix Fénéon write favourable reviews, but the public ridicules the “pictures painted in dots”, and the Swiss critic Émile Hennequin finds them grey and poor in light. The Impressionists are sceptical: when Pissarro says that “La Grande Jatte” is very interesting, Degas replies that he would have noticed, but it is so large; Seurat himself blames the hall for being too dark and cramped to give the picture the necessary distance.
15 May – 15 June 1886
“La Grande Jatte” is first shown at the eighth Impressionist exhibition
“A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” is shown to the public for the first time at the eighth Impressionist exhibition, held from 15 May to 15 June 1886. The painting will initiate Neo-Impressionism and alter the direction of modern art.
19 September 1886
Fénéon names “Neo-Impressionism” and defends Seurat
Félix Fénéon, who gives the new movement the name “Neo-Impressionism”, defends the artist in an article for the Belgian paper “L'Art Moderne” of 19 September 1886: here, he argues, no virtuosity of brushwork or impasto is needed, but the eye must be quick, sharp and perceptive.
