This painting shows an expansive green and yellow grassland under a textured blue and white sky. The horizon line is high, separating the fields and clouds with a thin line of dark trees and small white buildings. The dark silhouette of a small person is in the grass to the left, and a tall tree is in the background on the far-left side. Small dashes of blue and peach paint decorate the grass, and there are streaks of red and peach in the sky. The brushstrokes are short and feathery, giving the scene a blurred quality.
Read the visual description

This painting shows an expansive green and yellow grassland under a textured blue and white sky. The horizon line is high, separating the fields and clouds with a thin line of dark trees and small white buildings. The dark silhouette of a small person is in the grass to the left, and a tall tree is in the background on the far-left side. Small dashes of blue and peach paint decorate the grass, and there are streaks of red and peach in the sky. The brushstrokes are short and feathery, giving the scene a blurred quality.

National Gallery of Art · Painting

A Summer Landscape

Georges Seurat

Date
1883
Medium
oil on wood
Dimensions
overall: 15.88 × 25.08 cm (6 1/4 × 9 7/8 in.)
Classification
Painting
Accession number
2014.18.52
Credit line
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon
Time span
1876 to 1900
Department
CF

Subjects and terms

  • painted surface
  • French
  • Impressionist
  • French Paintings of the Nineteenth Century. Part II: Impressionism and Post-Impressionism
Provenance

Paul Mellon [1907-1999], Upperville, Virginia, by 1966;[1] bequest 1999 to NGA, with life interest to his wife, Rachel Lambert Mellon [1910-2014]. [1] Lent to _French Paintings from the Collections of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon and Mrs. Mellon Bruce_, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1966, no. 142, repro.

NGA object ID 164962. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.