A Sunday on La Grande Jatte — 1884

A Sunday on La Grande Jatte — 1884 by Georges Seurat: In Ferris Bueller’s Day Off , Ferris’s best friend Cameron Frye intensely studies this nearly ten-foot-wi…

What to notice

Stand back for the park’s calm geometry, then move closer to see how countless separated color touches build figures, shadows, water, and luminous air.

Discover

In Ferris Bueller’s Day Off , Ferris’s best friend Cameron Frye intensely studies this nearly ten-foot-wide painting during a scene set at the Art Institute. Featuring people of every age and social class on the banks of the River Seine, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte—1884 has captivated visitors ever since its arrival at the museum in 1924. If we, like Cameron, come closer to the painting, figures and forms dissolve into dots and dashes of complementary colors laid side by side, characteristic of Seurat’s pointillis…