Seurat And Jatte

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A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, by Georges Seurat, is a massive 81-3/4" x 10'-1/4" oil on canvas painting which took two years to complete is the topic of this analysis. This painting is a prime resource for analysis of the color pallet and technique of the era and the profound and provocative resulting effects of this artwork. This painting is an exquisite example of the divisionism or pointillism painting technique which was a divergence from the previous painting styles. Seurat's use of color theory is a major component of this unique masterpiece and an area for further discussion. However, first, a brief history, He was born on 2 December 1859, in a little street in the tenth arrondissement municipaux, administrative…show more content…
The freeze frame stance of the various vignettes of people, animals taking part in activities common with the new leisure time on Sunday. The pointillism captures the multitude of actual colors that create each and every element in the image and we perceive a complete image. Seurat did not prepare the pigments he used for Grande Jatte and the painting soon began loosing the color intensity from the unstable pigments used, which was associated with Zinc potassium chromate.6 However, the numerous studies Seurat painted, for Grande Jatte, maintained the vibrate colors which were intended and assist in color analysis. The combination of these very few colors provide the vibrant combination that is the essence of Grande Jatte. The palette of Reds: Red lake, pinkish red lake + white; Yellows: chrome yellow, organic yellow, (yellow-brown) chrome yellow + vermilion + tr. Cadmium; Greens: viridian, viridian + traces of lead white, chrome yellow in varying proportions; Blues: French ultramarine, French ultramarine + cobalt blue; White: lead white; Browns/Earths: red lake yellow ochre + French ultramarine.7 The way these colors were structured on the canvas added depth and dimension to each

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