Remember the museum scene in Ferris Beuller's Day Off when Ferris' BFF Cameron locks eyes with and is transfixed by a little girl in a painting at The Art Institute of Chicago? According to our good friends at Wikipedia, "...the scene portrays Cameron observing the little girl up close whereupon he realizes that, though from a distance all seems in order, there is no shape or form to her face." That painting, of course, is Un dimanche après-midi à l'Île de la Grande Jatte (A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of the Grand Jatte). It's one of painter Georges Seurat's most famous works, and likely the quintessential example of Pointillism, a technique he developed and for which he was ridiculed. During a trip to Chicago for my friend Gail's wedding last October, I took a quick detour to pay homage to Sunday Afternoon; it was like visiting an old friend:
It also happens that the painting's setting is in my 'hood, and I just came from a quick jog (all my jogs these days are quick) on the island. I got those familiar tender goosebumps I get when I know I'm treading on historic territory. In fact "la Jatte" wasn't Seurat's haunt alone: Claude Monet and Alfred Sisley (likely others) also get props for putting in some painterly time here. It's a beautiful spot, and easy to imagine how impressionists would've liked it for the play of light bouncing atop the Seine's waters.
It also happens that the painting's setting is in my 'hood, and I just came from a quick jog (all my jogs these days are quick) on the island. I got those familiar tender goosebumps I get when I know I'm treading on historic territory. In fact "la Jatte" wasn't Seurat's haunt alone: Claude Monet and Alfred Sisley (likely others) also get props for putting in some painterly time here. It's a beautiful spot, and easy to imagine how impressionists would've liked it for the play of light bouncing atop the Seine's waters.
Ile de la Jatte, Alfred Sisley, 1873, photo courtesy of Artchive Web GalleryToday, of course, it's still a retreat for many, and there are restaurants, townhouses, tennis courts, office buildings, and a bus line that cuts across it. I also enjoy it for the colorful man-made ruches, or beehives, sponsored by the town of Levallois, as well as for a crisp glass of white. Some of Roman's early steps were also captured on the island. Awww.
Me and My RC in front of les ruches
photo of me by Camillebaby steps by Roman, June 2009
above: Georges Seurat: Sunday Afternoon on the Island of the Grande Jatte, 1886, Art Institute of Chicago source: http://cgfa.sunsite.dk
