Study for 'A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte' 1884

This small oil on wood panel is one of several studies for Georges Seurat's most ambitious painting, 'A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.' Painted in France, around 1884, this work captures the leisure activities of the Parisian middle class. Seurat was interested in how social class was reflected in the ways people spent their time in public spaces. The island of La Grande Jatte was a popular spot for Parisians to escape the city, and Seurat carefully observed their interactions, and recorded them in his paintings. Seurat employed a technique called pointillism, where small dots of color are applied to the canvas to create a vibrant, luminous effect. This was a very modern and scientific approach to painting at the time, and it reflected the growing interest in science and technology in the late 19th century. To understand this painting better, we can look at social histories of leisure and class in 19th-century Paris. This reveals how art reflects and comments on the social structures of its time.