La Grande Jatte (Study VI)

Painted in 1884 and now at the National Gallery in London, this sixth study for 'La Grande Jatte' belongs to the London group of Seurat preparatory panels that allows systematic comparison with the finished canvas in Chicago. The National Gallery holds multiple Grande Jatte studies acquired across the 20th century, and their concentration there has made London an important centre of Seurat scholarship. This study (designated VI in the standard catalogue sequence) represents one of the later preparatory panels, closer to the final composition than the earliest compositional explorations.

In later studies the divisionist dot application is more uniformly realised, with the characteristically even, optical-mixing surface of the final canvas beginning to emerge. Figure positions, landscape elements, and the crucial role of light in flattening form into near-silhouette are all present in their essential final arrangement.