The questions that accompany Seurat's "A Sunday on LaGrande Jatte, 1884" have apparently have kept art historians on their toes for the past century. As narrator Samuel West offers, "the closer you look, the more mysterious it becomes". From the pointillism style Seurat created with millions of tiny dots and brush strokes to the possible meanings behind the subjects on the canvas, this painting certainly deserved the exclusivity of the entire film to ponder it's mystery.
I found it considerably entertaining that many people have found an overwhelming amount of sexual connotations within the enormous 11 x 7' framed work. From the location's history of prostitution activity, to the significance of the monkey (as the word was used as 19th century french slang to describe the world's oldest profession), to the woman with the fishing pole, possibly 'fishing' for business. Without a doubt, sex sells. So, once someone had discovered this symbolism (whether intentional or not), it surely got people talking.
Perhaps most interesting was the fact that pop culture has, and continues to imitate Seurat's painting. Being that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, I am sure that those who have recreated the image do so with great affection. The film provided several examples, which encouraged me to delve a little deeper. There are more than a thousand images on google
to be found when I performed a search for these parodies.
And people continue to contemplate the painting's mystery because of it's irony. West couldn't have put it better when he said, " 'A Sunday on LaGrande Jatte' is a picture of paradoxes. It depicts leisure, yet it's creation was months of hard work. It documents a particular moment in time, but strives for classical permanence. It's extremely familiar to us today, yet it's meaning remains elusive."
I truly look forward to drawing my own conclusions when I see the painting for myself.
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