Poseuse debout, de face, étude pour Les Poseuses

This 1886 study of a standing model facing front was made during the preparation of Les Poseuses, in which Seurat depicted three nude models in his studio with a view of La Grande Jatte visible on the wall. The studies stripped away compositional complexity to focus on the divisionist rendering of human flesh in interior light — a technical challenge that occupied Seurat between the Grande Jatte's triumphant Impressionist exhibition debut and the completion of Les Poseuses itself. The work responds implicitly to Ingres and classical tradition while demonstrating wholly modern colour science. Held at the Musée d'Orsay.

The nude figure is rendered in tiny dots of warm peach, pink, and pale yellow for lit surfaces, with blue and green in the shadows, demonstrating Seurat's systematic application of complementary-colour shadow. The background dots are cooler and looser, pushing the figure into clear relief.