Study for 'Le Chahut'

Painted in 1889 and now at the Courtauld Gallery in London, this study for 'Le Chahut' (1889–90, Kröller-Müller Museum) records Seurat's preparation for one of his most ambitious figure compositions. Le Chahut depicts the high-kick cancan dance popular at the Parisian café-concerts of the late 1880s, a subject that allowed Seurat to apply his theories about the psychological effects of line direction: upward-curving lines producing gaiety and excitement. The Courtauld study captures the essential compositional structure—the ascending diagonal lines of dancers' legs, the orchestra below, the gaslit atmosphere—before its realisation in the larger canvas.

The study establishes the characteristic upward diagonal energy of the composition, with dancers' raised legs and the ascending rhythm of the scene rendered through Seurat's systematic dot application. The artificial gas illumination creates a warm, yellow-toned atmosphere contrasting with the cooler tones of shadow.