Haymakers at Montfermeil
c. 1882
Medium
oil on wood
Dimensions
overall: 15.56 × 24.77 cm (6 1/8 × 9 3/4 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CF
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon
Accession Number
2014.18.48
Art Historical Context
Georges Seurat’s *Haymakers at Montfermeil*, painted around 1882, captures a quiet moment of rural labor just outside Paris. At this early stage in his career, the young artist was already moving beyond Impressionism toward a more structured approach to color and form. Working in oil on a small wooden panel, Seurat could carry the work outdoors easily, allowing him to study light and atmosphere directly from nature. The modest size—just over six by nine inches—suggests this may have been a study rather than a finished exhibition piece. Montfermeil, a village east of Paris, offered Seurat the ...
About the Artist
Georges Seurat · 1859–1891
Georges Seurat (1859-1891) was the founder of Neo-Impressionism and the inventor of Pointillism, a revolutionary technique that transformed how artists understand and apply color. In a tragically brief career cut short at age 31, Seurat produced only seven monumental paintings, yet his systematic application of color theory fundamentally altered the direction of modern art. Born in Paris to a pro...