I visit a lot of museums but I grew up going to the
Art Institute of Chicago. Honestly I felt it was my museum and at some point during a reinstallation of the collection, possibly in the late 80's a painting that I had build a strong connection with was moved. I was furious, indignant really. I had been studying
Seurat's La Grande Jatte from the steps of gallery 240 my whole life. I studied it from near, from far, I moved around the stairs and navigated the people in front of it. I was learning from his composition, his color mixing, and the audacity of his framing. This was before I even knew I would be an artist. I was absorbed by the discipline that painting took, the tenacity of his pointillist technique still boggles my mind. It was moved to a smaller gallery, one that provided less space for active viewing of such a monumental work.
I visited the
Art Institute on a cold day in February and was flooded with joy to see
La Grande Jatte back in it's proper place. In a room large enough for me to move in and around eating up the marvelous details of this painting. Thinking about this painting today, on a Sunday, in the midst of Covid-19, gives me a hope that we'll get through this and enjoy days in the park, together again soon.
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| Paul Seurat, A Sunday Afternoon on La Grande Jatte, 1884 |
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| view of Seurat entering gallery 240, this hallway was wider back in the day |
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| detail (monkey and dog), La Grande Jatte |
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| detail (Musician), La Grande Jatte |
