Figures in a Landscape

c. 1883

Georges Seurat

Associated Names
Georges Seurat

Artist, French, 1859 - 1891

This painting shows a scene with several people spaced out across a grassy expanse. The horizon is high in the painting, lined with white structures with red roofs and green trees. Closest to us are the silhouettes of several people engaged in leisurely activities. One person appears to sit on a grass hill, while others walk in opposite directions down a path, two holding umbrellas. The people are painted with thick, dark paint strokes, and have no detail inside their forms. Behind them, towards the horizon, is a wide pink stretch that could be a river or a path. The brushstrokes in the painting are loose and expressive, contributing to a sense of movement in the depiction of both the people and the landscape. The overall color palette consists of warm earth tones, muted greens, soft pinks, and gentle blues. Different colors are layered on top of one another in short brushstrokes, giving the painting a blurred effect.

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Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

The artist [1857-1891], until his death.[1] (Bernheim-Jeune, Paris), in 1908.[2] (Heim, Paris). (Wildenstein, New York). Duncan MacDonald [d. 1949], London. (Alex Reid & Lefevre, London), in 1949.[3] William A. Cargill [d. 1962], Carruth, Bridge of Weir, Scotland; (his estate sale, Sotheby's, London, 11 June 1963, no. 43); purchased by (Acciarri) for (Hector Brame, Paris) for Paul Mellon [1907-1999], Upperville, Virginia; bequest 1999 to NGA, with life interest to his wife, Rachel Lambert Mellon [1910-2014].
[1] Atelier Seurat, posthumous inventory, no. 52.
[2] Retrospective Georges Seurat, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, 1908-1909, no. 33.
[3] The 1963 Cargill sale catalogue lists Duncan MacDonald and Lefevre Gallery as the last two owners of the painting prior to Cargill. MacDonald was a director of Reid & Lefevre, first in Glasgow and then in London, from about 1926 until his death. It is not yet known whether MacDonald owned the painting privately, or whether he acquired it as stock for the gallery. It was shown in the exhibition Nineteeth Century French Masters at Lefevre Gallery, London, in 1949, where it was no. 37, titled La Promenade.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1908

  • Rétrospective Georges Seurat, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, 1908-1909, no. 33.

1935

  • Twenty-Four Paintings and Drawings by Georges Seurat, The Renaissance Society, University of Chicago, 1935, no. 1.

1937

  • Seurat and His Contemporaries, Wildenstein & Co., London, 1937, no. 44.

1938

  • Artists Who Died Young, Leicester Galleries, London, 1938, no. 33.

1944

  • Possibly Constable to Cezanne, Wildenstein & Co., London, 1944, no. 8, as Four Figures in a Landscape.

1949

  • Nineteeth Century French Masters, Lefevre Gallery, London, 1949, no. 37, as La Promenade.

Bibliography

1959

  • Dorra, Henri, and John Rewald. Seurat, l'oeuvre peint, biographie et catalogue critique. Paris, 1959: no. 74, repro.

Inscriptions

lower right, artist's cachet: SEURAT

Wikidata ID

Q20189600

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