# Oil Sketch for "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte — 1884"

**Georges Seurat** (French, 1859–1891)  
1884  
Oil on panel  
15.5 × 24.3 cm (6 1/8 × 9 9/16 in.); Framed: 25.4 × 35.6 cm (10 × 14 in.)

Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1981.15. [The museum's record](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/61616).

## About this work

Seurat made dozens of small oil sketches on the island of La Grande Jatte in the Seine, working outdoors to study light, colour and the placement of figures for his great painting A Sunday on La Grande Jatte — 1884, in the same collection. In this panel the strollers and loungers along the riverbank are only roughly defined by heavy daubs of paint, and the brushwork is loose and varied, quite unlike the systematic dots of the finished canvas. Sketches like this show how carefully he planned the composition before applying his rigorous method.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

Georges Seurat painted this in 1884, aged 25. It is now at the Art Institute of Chicago.

### What you’re looking at

Heavy daubs of pigment form a crowded scene of roughly defined, finely dressed individuals in a brightly color park along a riverbank.

_Description from the Art Institute of Chicago._

### How it was made

- **Oil on panel.** Oil paint on prepared wooden boards, usually oak in the north and poplar in Italy. The rigid, smooth surface suits fine detail and thin, glowing glazes.
- **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 25
- Real size: about 6 × 9½ in (15 × 24 cm). The 8 × 10 in print is close to life size.
- Century: 19th century
- Movement: [Post-Impressionism](https://www.ochreeditions.com/movements/post-impressionism)
- Subjects: leisure, sketch, park, nature, men, landscape, figures, fashion
- 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/179.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/179/1920.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/oil-sketch-for-a-sunday-on-la-grande-jatte-1884-aic-61616).