Georges Seurat (1859–1891)
1890
Oil paint on wood panel
Gravelines, summer 1890
This view from the beach in Gravelines captures the cloudy radiance of the northern coast of France. Sea and sky blur into one another, as the horizon line is barely demarcated by a few orange and blue dots. In the foreground, a pool of water left by the tide provides luminosity and reflects the white clouds above. The oil sketch – striking for its near-abstract qualities – is an exercise in using a limited palette to turn a prosaic landscape into a poetic vision. Georges Seurat did not make a larger painting of this composition but instead completed his small panel as an independent work.