Texture of the A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte - Essay Example

Texture of “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” The painting, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte was created by Georges Seurat in the 1884. Seurat’s painting illustrates a group of people on the Grande Jatte Island, relaxing on a Sunday afternoon. In this particular painting, Seurat developed a never seen before technique known as pointillism. A painting developed through pointillism is created by applying small dots of various colors on a painting material.

The technique, pointillism can be refereed with profuse nouns such as Neo-impressionism and Divisionism. The painting incorporates the fundamental elements and principles of design. This paper describes the elements and principle of design, evident in the painting, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. Lines in the painting are horizontal, vertical and two opposite perpendicular lines. Horizontal lines in the painting are formed from the boats, the shadows and the shorelines. Vertical lines come from the line up made from the water reflection, the people and the trees.

Seurat is creative in that he created perpendicular lines, which originate from the extremes of the horizontal and vertical lines. The lines in the painting form a rectangle geometrical shape (Davis & Leshko 145). The texture in the painting comes as a result of small dabs and dots of paint. The painting has layers of small dabs and dots of paints. The dabs and dots in the paint bring about the smooth texture of the paint. Texture in the painting is depicted in various forms. The figures and water in river depict a smooth texture while the grass has a rough texture since it is crisscrossed (Davis & Leshko 132).

In the painting, variety of shapes are present, the living things in the painting, which are people, trees, grass and animals represent organic shapes. Non living things, which contain geometric shapes, are hats, umbrellas and boats. The shapes in the painting are mostly representational they look more realistic. The painting has a symmetrical balance originating from a lady and a little girl standing in the middle of the paint (Davis & Leshko 122). The painting has achieved value through Seurat’s incorporation of dark and light features in the painting.

The foreground is seen to be dark, while the middle and background are lighter. An ultimate harmony is achieved in the painting through value. In the painting, value and tone has been applied to display the shapes as 3-dimensional. The piece seems brighter, through pointillist technique; the paints used are oil based colors. The evidence of space in the painting is derived from the overlapping background and open foreground (Davis & Leshko 121). Color in the painting has been applied through oil paints in the form of dots and dad.

Since oil paints do not bleed like water paints, an optical form of color is seen. The painting becomes more colorful from a distance as a result of the optical color mixture. The painting’s texture vibrates and illuminates the color in the paint. Green, a primary color is dominant in the painting. Seurat has harmonized the paint by applying complementary colors. The color intensity in the painting is highly resonated through Seurat’s creativity of contrasting blue and orange colors with the dark parts of the painting.

The contrasting colors depict a peaceful mood in the painting (Davis & Leshko 118). Conclusion The painting is an example of a good learning resource for art students particularly, in the category of paintings. The painting, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte is unique in the sense that its creation employed a novel technique known as pointillism. The painting presents evidence of visual elements of art. Georges Seurat can be categorized as one of the pioneers of the pointillist technique, which is also referred to as Divisionism.

Through divisionism, painting is done by applying dots and dabs on a painting material. Divisionism is a creative form of painting, which should be embraced. Works Cited Davis J, Leshko J. The Smith College Museum of Art: European and American painting and sculpture, 1760-1960. New York: Hudson Hills, 2000. Print