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Lot Essay
Casseur de pierres was painted in the early 1880s, a time when Seurat was experimenting with new techniques. His subject matter gradually changed from beaux-arts figures to landscape and genre studies, and under the influence of the color theories of Eugène Chevreul and Ogden Rood, he made significant advances towards pointillism.
Between 1882 and 1884, inspired in part by Jean-François Millet, Seurat painted more than twenty studies of farmers or peasants working in the fields, either breaking stones or thrashing wheat. His main focus in these works was the development of a more scientific approach to the depiction of light and color. The composition is divided into three horizontal planes; the worker and his pick-axe providing the only verticals. Light effects are also treated on three different levels: reflected sunlight appears in a range of yellows and ochres, sunlight partially absorbed by the leaves is represented in shades of light yellow-greens and blue-greens, while the areas in shadow combine dark blue and green tones. The painter's exploration of light and color in this series was extremely important for his artistic development. In its separated palette, Casseur de pierres strongly resembles the preparatory studies for La Grande Jatte, which he began working on in 1884.
Between 1882 and 1884, inspired in part by Jean-François Millet, Seurat painted more than twenty studies of farmers or peasants working in the fields, either breaking stones or thrashing wheat. His main focus in these works was the development of a more scientific approach to the depiction of light and color. The composition is divided into three horizontal planes; the worker and his pick-axe providing the only verticals. Light effects are also treated on three different levels: reflected sunlight appears in a range of yellows and ochres, sunlight partially absorbed by the leaves is represented in shades of light yellow-greens and blue-greens, while the areas in shadow combine dark blue and green tones. The painter's exploration of light and color in this series was extremely important for his artistic development. In its separated palette, Casseur de pierres strongly resembles the preparatory studies for La Grande Jatte, which he began working on in 1884.