Le Chahut

Le Chahut (1889–90) depicts the high-kicking cancan dance at a Montmartre cabaret, one of several late Seurat works exploring Parisian popular entertainment. Seurat drew directly on Charles Henry's Esthétique scientifique, which linked rising diagonal lines with feelings of gaiety and energy, and warm yellow-orange tones with cheerfulness. The exaggerated angular rhythms of the dancers' legs, the conductor's stick, and spectators' profiles all embody this theory of expressive line. The monumental canvas, now at the Kröller-Müller Museum, crowns his systematic investigation of spectacle and motion.

Large, confident dots and strong, rising diagonal motifs structure the composition. The palette is dominated by warm yellows and oranges lit against dark backgrounds, exploiting simultaneous contrast. The painted border frames the whole in blue and orange dots, integrating it into the colour system of the interior.