"A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte," 207×308 cm, 1884-86. Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Seurat (1859–1891), the most representative painter of Neo-Impressionism and founder of Pointillism, was highly rational and self-aware, known as the modern Piero della Francesca. Having undergone training in traditional art (École des Beaux-Arts) and revering Ingres's academic art, he lived in an era of scientific evolution between old and new styles following Impressionism. Dissatisfied with the Impressionist capture of fleeting atmosphere, Seurat studied scientific papers by Chevreul, Rood, and Sutter on "color and light," dividing light into its constituent color theories. Through diligent research, he created what people call "Pointillism," though he termed it "Divisionism." He depicted nature using pure primary colors placed as dots on the canvas, allowing viewers' retinas to recombine them through complementary color relationships into "optical mixtures."

Initial results appeared in his 1884 Pointillist debut "Bathers at Asnières." This innovative technique was rejected by the official Salon but debuted at the first Independent Salon founded by Seurat, where he met painters like Signac and Cross, quickly forming a like-minded group that became Neo-Impressionism.

Working day and night, Seurat completed his Neo-Impressionist monument, the masterpiece "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte," between 1884 and 1886. Its style is based on color division and hue mixing, yet he did not stop at exploring color and light, which would have been no different from Impressionism or even Pissarro's Pointillism. Instead, he continued to construct the aesthetics of lines and structure through scientific and rational methods. The artist stated: "If according to artistic experience I can scientifically determine the laws of color application, why cannot I similarly discover a reasonable, logical, and scientific system of drawing to constitute the harmony of lines in a painting, just as I do with color?" (Note).

With rigorous aesthetics combining brilliant colors and harmonious, perfect forms, he completed "The Circus" between 1888 and 1890. After finishing this work, which possessed a tranquility akin to a painter's legacy amidst clamor, Seurat died at the young age of 32, right in the prime of his life. Pissarro said of Seurat's death: "It seems as if Seurat's death also marks the end of Pointillism," followed by, "But I think this will trigger another effect, and henceforth carry great artistic significance." This contribution lies not merely in the scientific basis of aesthetic harmony within painting, but in the awareness of dialectical questions within the artistic process itself (Note).

Twenty years after his death, modern art development reached a decisive stage; Seurat had a decisive influence on Picasso, Braque, and Gris. Naturally, Duchamp was no exception. (Note: Reference History of Modern Painting, translated by Li Changjun, Mainland Publishing House, 1974 reprint, pp. 26-28.)

"A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" is Seurat's most representative masterpiece and one of the milestones of Western modern art. Here, he not only realized scientific theory but also achieved the ideal of Western intellectual art.

This work participated in the eighth and final Impressionist group exhibition. It was because of this painting that the term "Neo-Impressionism" was coined. The extraordinary "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte - Figures and Scenery along the Seine" clearly presents a subject favored by Impressionists: the leisurely scene of the French middle class on Sundays. Under the shimmering water reflections and lush green shade, families and people enjoy their leisure time, happily savoring beautiful holiday days. Here, Seurat seriously executed Eugène Chevreul's theory of dividing light into constituent colors for "vision and color," while also constructing the beauty of lines and structure through scientific and rational methods, achieving such harmony and perfection that it commands admiration. Moreover, what he captured was a comprehensive, static, and eternal image, exactly opposite to the natural, fleeting appearance favored by Impressionism.