The Ladies' Man

The Ladies' Man (also known as The Couple, 1889) belongs to Seurat's late period, when he was applying his chromoluminarist system to small figure scenes as well as large-scale spectacle subjects. A top-hatted Parisian flaneur escorts a woman along a boulevard in an image that condenses the social theatricality of modern life into a few simplified silhouettes. As with his other late figure works, Seurat used Charles Henry's theories to associate compositional line directions with emotional expression. Now at the Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia.

Silhouetted figures against a divided-colour background, the work relies on strong value contrast rather than fine surface detail. Dots are loosely applied and large relative to the canvas size. The background builds up warm and cool zones through complementary dot juxtaposition, creating a shimmering urban atmosphere.