← Georges Seurat

Gray Weather, Grande Jatte

Original title: Gray Weather, Grande Jatte

Artist

Georges Seurat

Date

ca. 1886–88

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

27 3/4 x 34 in. (70.5 x 86.4 cm)

Credit line

The Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg Collection, Gift of Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg, 2002, Bequest of Walter H. Annenberg, 2002

kurzbeschreibung

Georges Seurat painted 'Trübes Wetter, Grande Jatte' around 1886–88, capturing the Île de la Grande Jatte under an overcast sky. This oil on canvas view includes boats, a swan, and wooded banks.

Description

A river flows across the foreground, carrying several boats and a swan. Trees and shrubs line the left and right banks, while buildings and more trees structure the landscape in the distance. The cloudy sky creates a subdued mood. Greens dominate the palette, with accents of blue and gray, giving the picture a calm and peaceful feel.

Context

During a phase when Seurat was developing his pointillist method, he returned to the Île de la Grande Jatte—a Seine island near Paris that he had already depicted in his major work 'A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte' (1884–86). Seurat was deeply engaged with the scientific color theories of his time, especially simultaneous contrast. The rendering of overcast weather sets this work apart from his otherwise bright, sunny scenes.

Impact

The muted colors and pointillist dot structure evoke a calm, almost meditative mood. Through the horizontal arrangement and even distribution of light, the scene appears static and timeless.

Technique

Executed in oil on canvas, the picture shows Seurat's typical pointillism: colors are applied in small, irregular dots that optically merge into a mosaic-like whole. This method relies on scientific color division and additive color mixing.

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Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)