Man Leaning on a Parapet by Seurat in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, January 2020

A Man Leaning on a Parapet
ca. 1881


Object Details

Title: A Man Leaning on a Parapet

Artist: Georges Seurat (French, Paris 1859–1891 Paris)

Date: ca. 1881

Medium: Oil on wood

Dimensions: 6 1/2 × 4 7/8 in. (16.5 × 12.4 cm)

Classification: Paintings

Credit Line: Bequest of Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 2019

Accession Number: 2019.141.17


In the studio inventory made following Seurat’s death, this painting appears as "panel no. 1." One of the artist’s earliest works, it relates to pictures he made about 1880–81 that show single figures absorbed in thought or engaged in labor. The composition reveals his incipient talent for carefully calibrated light effects, bold silhouettes, and flat, geometric forms. Just visible through the leaves is the dome of the Institut de France, across the Seine from the Louvre in Paris.


Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/438123