It is interesting to note that Seurat’s studies for Models actually employ a more interesting use of color than does the final version of his work. In these studies (namely Model from Behind, Model in Profile, and Model from the Front), Seurat uses large dots of complimentary colors that are more similar in nature to the dots he uses in Grande Jatte. In Model in Profile, Seurat includes dots of blue amongst the orange dots that comprise the floor, in Model from Behind he mixes in yellow amongst his purple dots that comprise the border and dress of the woman in Grande Jatte. The large dots and the variety of colors in the studies give the studies a vibrant feel that is lacking in the finished version. Just like Seurat shied away from depicting the working class in his final version of Bathers even though he included the working class in his studies, Seurat shies away from using innovative colors in the final version of Models, though he includes them in his studies. We can only guess at the reasons why Seurat decided to make his dots finer and his colors blander in the final version of Models, but it seems as if Seurat did not want his neo-impressionistic style to obscure the substantive details of Models, which were crucial to the painting’s meaning.

Seurat recognized his own failure to include vibrant colors when he redid Models after the painting’s completion. Of the dozen or so major works in Seurat’s career, Models was the only one that Seurat repainted after completion. In the revision, known as Models (Small version) (1888), Seurat left the content intact but made a stylistic overhaul by enlarging the size of the colored dots, showing his apparent dissatisfaction with the execution of his pointillist style. In fact, the size of the dots and vibrancy of the colors in the Models (small version) is reminiscent of Seurat’s initial studies.

Further adding to the stylistic failure of Models was the fact that Camille Pissarro suddenly abandoned Seurat’s pointillist movement after the exhibition of Models. Although it is difficult to prove that Models was the sole cause of Pissarro’s disillusionment with pointillism, art historian John Russell implies that Models was the last straw for Pissarro: that Pissarro’s move was due to the “grayish, low-spirited look” of the technique employed in Models. (Russell 210) Soon after the exhibition of Models, Pissarro, who had been one of Seurat’s largest supporters up to that point, wrote in a letter that “the dot is thin, diaphanous, has no consistency, is more monotonous than simple,” (qtd Russell 210) an observation which describes the weak use of the dot in Models. Pissarro’s dissatisfaction with Models demonstrates the lack of innovative colors in the painting. The prospect of using innovative colors to more effectively convey mood and content was what intrigued Pissarro initially, and to Pissarro’s disappointment, Models was too interested in its political content to concern itself with innovative style.