Study for “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte”

• Georges Seurat (1859–1891)
• 1884
• Oil on wood
• Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
• (1975.1.207)

Georges Seurat first presented A Sunday on La Grande Jatte at the final Impressionist exhibition in 1886. In preparation, he created thirty-one oil sketches and numerous drawings. In this oil sketch, he juxtaposed intense, contrasting colors to brighten the sunlit scene. The woman standing farthest away wears a fashionable bustled dress, its distinctive shape accentuated at the back.