Georges Seurat - Sunday Afternoon on the Grande Jatte Explained: The Story behind Great Paintings

Georges Seurat, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of the Grande Jatte. You have probably been looking at this painting incorrectly, watch and find out why? Georges Seurat the French painter of A Sunday Afternoon on Le Grande Jatte was a Pointillist painter who died when only 31 years old. The artist was born in Paris, France in 1859. This video discusses the story behind the creation of the painting from the initial sketches and preliminary oil paintings, to Seurat's imaginative use of geometry. It explains what Pointillism or Divisionism as Seurat called it, actually is. It took Georges Seurat 2 years to paint the picture completing the painting in 1886. It was exhibited first at the Maison Doree and then at the Salon des Independents later in 1886. The painting was sold to Frederic Clay Bartlett for $20,000 in the 1920's and donated to the Art Institute of Chicago where it remains today.

The Grande Jatte is actually a small island in the middle of the river Seine to the west of Paris as it was in 1886. The figures look very static and the couple on the right of the painting seem too big, but this is all part of Georges Seurat's plan. The geometry of the painting was very carefully worked out. The end of the video reveals the painting, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of the Grande Jatte's, great secret. You'll never look at the painting in quite the same way again.

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PATREON: I'd like to thank the following patrons whose support in the making of this video is much appreciated: Aou I, Danny Wilshaw, Dee Ann Havely, Deirdre Feely, Denise Berg, Denise Trietsch, Hollie Hitchcock, Ivan Gilbert Rappaport, Mary Stewart, Nicolae Opris, S. Ryckman, Tatiana Lostorto, Tess N, Tina Valentine, Visnja Zeljeznjak, Wiggans, Linda Frazier, Marnie Coutts, Stein Harald Os, Emily Liss, William Scott Griffiths, Dinny Hinds, Danielle Basiuk and Ashok Kanagasundram