A History of European Art

Lecture 45: Beyond Impressionism—From Seurat to Matisse

Portrait of Madame Matisse (The Green Line), 1905, oil on canvas,

16 x 12 ¾” (40.6 x 32.3 cm), Statens Museum for Kunst,

Copenhagen, Denmark.

Georges Seurat:

Sunday Afternoon on the Island of the Grande Jatte, 1884–86, oil on

canvas, 6’ 10” x 10’ 1¼” (207.6 x 308 cm), The Art Institute of Chicago,

Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Vincent van Gogh:

The Harvest, 1888, oil on canvas, 28 ¾ x 36 ¼” (73 x 92 cm), Van Gogh

Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

The Red Vineyard, 1888, oil on canvas, 28 ¾ x 36” (73 x 91

cm), The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, Russia.

Self-Portrait as an Artist, 1887–88, oil on canvas, 25 ¾ x 20”

(65.4 x 50.8 cm), Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

The Starry Night, 1889, oil on canvas, 29 x 36 ¼” (73.7 x 92.1 cm), The

Museum of Modern Art, New York City, New York, USA.

Herbert and Harris (contributor), Seurat and the Making of La Grande Jatte.

Spurling, Matisse the Master.

———, The Unknown Matisse.

1. What is your interpretation of the social commentary offered by Seurat
   in Sunday Afternoon on the Island of the Grande Jatte?


2. Using a painting by Matisse that we have not seen in this lecture,
   describe the artist’s abstract use of color.

Suggested Reading

Questions to Consider