Haymakers at Montfermeil

c. 1882

Georges Seurat

Artist, French, 1859 - 1891

Georges Seurat

Attributed to

Two loosely painted people stand side by side in a field as they rake with their backs to us in this horizontal painting. The brushstrokes are soft and textured, and the details are loosely rendered, giving the scene a hazy appearance. Both people appear to wear long skirts, shirts, and head coverings in shades or pearl white, periwinkle, or sky blue. Peach-coloration on their hands suggests they are pale-skinned. They each hold a long-handled tool and look down at the ground as they work. The field they stand in is painted in shades of fresh green with strokes of teal blue and muted yellow, and the ground beneath their feet is covered in earthy brown and tan tones, suggesting a layer of leaves or soil. A darker green band along the top of the painting suggests a line of trees on the far side of a grassy field.

Media Options

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On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 88

Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Odilon Redon [1840-1916], Paris; his son, Ari Redon [1889-1972], Paris. (Galerie Jacques Rodrigues-Henriques, Paris). Georges Lévy, Paris, in 1937.[1] private collection, Paris, in 1957.[2] Paul Mellon [1907-1999], Upperville, Virginia; bequest 1999 to NGA, with life interest to his wife, Rachel Lambert Mellon [1910-2014].
[1] The painting was exhibited at Seligmann’s in Paris in 1938. In 1937, Lévy was selling through Seligmann two Renoirs now in the collection of the NGA (1956.4.1-2) so it is possible he sold the Seurat through Seligmann as well. However, to date no documents concerning the Seurat have been discovered in the records of Jacques Seligmann and Co. at the Archives of American Art, Washington, D.C.
[2] Lent from a private collection in Paris to Seurat, Musée Jacquemart-Andre, Paris, 1957, no. 6.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1938

  • Le Paysage à Travers les Ages, Galerie André Seligmann, Paris, 1938, no. 137.

1957

  • Seurat, Musée Jacquemart-Andre. Paris, 1957, no. 6.

1958

  • Seurat, Paintings and Drawings, The Art Institute of Chicago; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1958, no. 23.

Bibliography

1959

  • Dorra, Henri, and John Rewald. Seurat, l'oeuvre peint, biographie et catalogue critique. Paris, 1959: no. 10, repro.

1991

  • Grenier, Catherine. Seurat: Catalogue complet des peintures. Paris, 1991: no. 43, repro.

Wikidata ID

Q20189492

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