A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of la Grande Jatte, Research Paper Example

In Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, the Parisian middleclass is relaxing and fishing on a picnic ground during a holiday weekend. Trees, water and bright light (almost too bright) make up the backdrop. Seurat’s Woman Fishing features a darkly-colored, very dressed-up woman fishing, but the end of the fishing pole is cut off at the frame. The painting looks textured and the mass of color defines the woman’s form.

Seurat stylized normal, human activity in A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. The geometric human figures make an easy, relaxing scene gain an air of pretention. The overall tone of this work is formal and stately, slightly sad and at the same time slightly humorous. Odd elements lighten the mood, such as the skipping child and the man leaning back on his elbow. Complementing, almost competing, elements include the stiff couple with their pet monkey and the rigid woman engaging in the leisurely activity of fishing. The entire painting clashes energy with inflexibility. Seurat’s Woman Fishing blends the informal act of fishing with the aristocratic portrayal of the woman.

Seurat’s very colorful Sunday Afternoon contradicts his dark and monochromatic Woman Fishing. However, both paintings are richly colored and shaded. Both works include the same type of haughty, stiff woman, with the same body type and outfit. Fishing is also portrayed in both paintings, and while you don’t actually see a body of water in Woman Fishing, water is alluded to. Texture is also an element of both works – During Woman Fishing, Seurat was in the pre-stages of using just dots to form his figures; in Sunday Afternoon he was completely in his new style of using only dots.