Parade du Cirque (1887).jpg
Parade du Cirque (1887-8)


La Chahut (1889-90)

Seurat drastically changed his style after Models. Though Parade du Cirque (1887-8) and Models were exhibited at the same show in 1888, the two paintings are very different. Although both are drawn in the Pointillist style, the dots in Models are much finer than they are in Parade. Furthermore, in Parade there is more white space in between the dots, giving the painting a more spontaneous look- reminiscent of the spontaneity of Impressionist works.

Seurat's last four major works (Parade du Cirque, La Chahut (1889-90), A young woman powdering herself (1890), and Circus (1890-1)) are very similar and show that after Models, Seurat veered in a direction altogether different from any of his first three works. Though hard to qualify, his last four works have similar color schemes: they are dominated by muted yellows, pinks, and purples, as well reddish-browns and off-whites. These colors are much less vibrant than the oranges and blues in Bathers, or even the reds and greens in Grande Jatte. Considering that the goal of Pointillism was to increase color intensity, it is somewhat ironic that Seurat never was able to use pointillism to recreate the vibrancy of color that he achieved in Bathers (which was created before Pointillism had been fully developed).

Seurat's last four paintings show how he became more interested in the usage of line rather a usage of color. Each of the four paintings is dominated by lines that act in the ways Seurat described in his terse letter to Maurice Beauborg in 1890, "Gaiety...in terms of line... lines above the horizontal. Calmness...in terms of line, the horizontal. Sadness… in terms of line, downward directions." In Circus, for example, the audience sits in parallel horizontal lines that contrast with the central performer, who stands leaning up and to the right. Seurat's scientific use of line is apparent in these four paintings, but his scientific use of color is difficult to discern due to the muted colors.

One of the most notable differences between these last four paintings and Models is the lack of politicized content. The three paintings that portray entertainers convey the "alienation of late nineteenth century social life" primarily through the prominent lines and muted colors. (Smith, Seurat and the Avante Garde, 123) Though the paintings do have substantive details that add to this feeling of alienation--for example, in Circus, the poorer spectators are standing in the back while the wealthier spectators sit in front-- the overwhelming mood is created by the style. The color and line strike the viewer immediately, and only upon close examination does the viewer notice these small details. Seurat must have realized his initial success with conveying emotion and social message through style as he did in Bathers and Grande Jatte, and, after Models, returned his focus on style rather than on politicized content.