Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte
Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (Un dimanche après-midi à l'Ile de la Grande Jatte) is Georges Seurat's most famous work, and is an example of pointillism that is widely considered to be one of the most remarkable paintings of the 19th century.
Seurat spent two years painting it, focusing scrupulously on the landscape of the park. He reworked the original as well as completed numerous preliminary drawings and oil sketches. He concentrated on the issues of color, light, and form. The painting is 81 by 120 inches (approximately 2 by 3 meter or 7 by 10 feet).
Motivated by study in optical and color theory, he contrasted miniature dots of colors that, through optical unification, form a single hue in the viewer's eye. To make the experience of the painting even more vivid, he surrounded it with a frame of painted dots, which in turn he enclosed with a pure white, wooden frame, which is how the painting is exhibited today at the Art Institute of Chicago.
The Stephen Sondheim musical Sunday in the Park with George is based on the painting.
The painting is featured in the 1986 film, Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
And in 2004, 20th Century Fox's "The Simpsons" were featured in a poster titled "A Day at the River" which imitates Seurat's famous painting.
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