Poseuse de dos

Poseuse de dos (Model from Behind, 1887) was the final of the three individual panel studies for Les Poseuses, showing the model from the rear — the only pose that omits facial individuality entirely. This view allowed Seurat to concentrate on the divisionist rendering of the back's curved surface, the fall of light on hair, and the cool shadow of the lower back, without psychological engagement with a face. It is among the most formally abstract of his figure studies. Musée d'Orsay.

The back view is constructed entirely from warm skin-tone dots in lit areas shifting to blue-green complementaries in shadow. The absence of facial features concentrates attention on the pure formal problem of rendering a curved surface through systematic colour division. The panel dotwork is exceptionally fine and dense.