# A Sunday on La Grande Jatte — 1884

**Georges Seurat** (French, 1859–1891)  
1884–86, border added 1888–89  
Oil on canvas  
207.5 × 308.1 cm (81 3/4 × 121 1/4 in.)

Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1926.224. [The museum's record](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/27992).

## About this work

For his largest and best-known painting, Georges Seurat depicted Parisians enjoying all sorts of leisurely activities—strolling, lounging, sailing, and fishing—in the park called La Grande Jatte on the River Seine. He used an innovative technique called Pointillism that was inspired by optical and color theory, applying tiny dabs of different colored paint that viewers would see as a single, and Seurat believed, more brilliant hue.

_Text from the Art Institute of Chicago._

Georges Seurat painted this in 1884–86, border added 1888–89, aged about 25. It is now at the Art Institute of Chicago.

### What you’re looking at

Large painting of people in a crowded park, brushstrokes are dots.

_Description from the Art Institute of Chicago._

### How it was made

- **Oil paint.** Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.

### [Georges Seurat](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/georges-seurat)

French, 1859–1891; born in Paris; died in Paris

Seurat trained at the École des Beaux-Arts and studied the colour theories of Chevreul and others before developing pointillism, building pictures from small, separate touches of pure colour meant to combine in the eye. His large compositions, planned through many drawings and oil sketches, include Bathers at Asnières and A Sunday on La Grande Jatte — 1884, shown at the last Impressionist exhibition in 1886. His black conté crayon drawings are equally distinctive. He died suddenly at thirty-one.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Painting
- Culture: France
- The artist was about 25
- Real size: about 81 × 121 in (207 × 308 cm). The original is larger than our largest print, 30 × 40 in, so every print is a reduction.
- Century: 19th century
- Movement: [Post-Impressionism](https://www.ochreeditions.com/movements/post-impressionism)
- Subjects: leisure, animals, landscape, dogs, monkeys, sailing, trees, nature
- Colour: olive
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/118.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/118/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86; 24 × 36 in $108; 30 × 40 in $148
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208; 24 × 36 in $258; 30 × 40 in $338
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118; 20 × 30 in $148; 24 × 36 in $178; 30 × 40 in $228
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5; 24 × 36 in $5; 30 × 40 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/a-sunday-on-la-grande-jatte-1884-aic-27992).