About the Artwork
Seurat's unique style of painting (called pointillism, divisionism, or neo-impressionism) was based on scientific theories of how the optical nerve transmits juxtaposed colors to the brain. Seurat painted a border of complementary colors along the edge of the canvas to act as a transition for the darker values painted on the adjoining wooden frame. These dark edges help the painting appear more luminous against the frame, which was designed specifically by the artist to be visually unobtrusive to the image.
View of Le Crotoy from Upstream
1889
Georges Pierre Seurat
1859-1891
French
Unknown
Oil on canvas
Unframed: 27 3/4 × 34 1/8 inches (70.5 × 86.7 cm) Framed: 38 7/8 × 45 1/8 × 1 5/8 inches (98.7 × 114.6 × 4.1 cm)
Paintings
European Modern Art to 1970
Bequest of Robert H. Tannahill
70.183
Copyright not assessed, please contact [email protected].
Markings
Signed on back: Seurat
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Provenance
collection of the artist, Georges Seurat (Paris, France)
by 1891 until at least 1893 and possibly until 1899, collection Mme. Ernestine Seurat, artist's mother (Paris, France)
by 1899-1906, by inheritance to Emile Seurat, artist's brother (Paris, France)
1906 until at least 1909, Mme. Emile Seurat, widow of Emile Seurat (Paris, France)
1909-1922, collection Félix Fénéon (Paris, France)
1922-1926, acquired by John Quinn for $4,100 (New York, New York, USA)
by 1929 (Paul Rosenberg and Company, dealer, New York, New York, USA)
by 1931 and until 1935, (Wildenstein and Company, dealer, New York, New York, USA)
1935 (M. Knoedler and Company, dealer, stock # CA739, New York, New York, USA)
acquired by Robert Tannahill (Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, USA)
1970-present, bequest to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:
Provenance pageExhibition History
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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
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Salon des Indépendants (5e Exposition Société des Artistes Indépendants). Exh. cat., Société des Artistes Indépendants. Paris, 1889, cat. 242.
Fénéon, F., "L'Exposition des Artistes Indépendants a Paris." L'Art Moderne (October 27, 1889): 339.
VIIIe Exposition Les XX. Exh. cat., Musée d'Art Moderne. Brussels, 1891, cat. 2.
Salon des Indépendants (8e Exposition, Société des Artistes Indépendants). Exh. cat., Pavillon de la Ville de Paris. Paris, 1892, cat. 1104.
Exposition des Peintres Néo-Impressionnistes. Exh. cat., Hotel Brebant. Paris, 1892-1893, cat. 52.
Georges Seurat (1860-1891), Oeuvres Peintes et dessinées. Exh. cat., Galerie de la Revue Blanche. Paris, 1900, cat. 33.
Exposition, Rétrospective Georges Seurat (21me Exposition, Société des Artistes Indépendants). Exh. cat., Société des Artistes Indépendants. Paris, 1905, cat. 1 (Collection Emile Seurat).
Exposition Georges Seurat. Exh. cat., Bernheim-Jeune and Cie. Paris, 1908-1909, cat. 75.
Pach, W. Georges Seurat. New York, 1923, pl. 10.
Pach, W. “George Seurat.” The Arts (March 1923): 169, repr.
Coiquiot, G. Seurat. Paris, 1924, p. 248.
Paintings and Drawings by Georges Seurat. Exh. cat., Joseph Brummer Galleries. New York, 1924, cat. 19.
The John Quinn Collection. Huntington, NY, 1926, pp. 15, 122, (or cat. 122?) repr.
Cousturier, L. Seurat. Paris, 1926, p. 15, pl. 32.
First Loan Exhibition: Cézanne-Gauguin-Seurat-Van Gogh. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1929, pp. 24, 44, cat. 59, repr. (lent by Paul Rosenberg).
“An Exhibition of Modern French Art.” Bulletin of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts 19, no. 14 (1930): 66-67.
An Exhibition of Paintings & Print by the Masters of Post-Impressionism. Exh. cat., the City Art Museum. St. Louis, 1931, p. 10, cat. 29 (lent by Wildenstein & Co.).
Wilenski, R. H. French Painting. Boston, 1931, p. 319.
An Exhibition of French Nineteenth Century Masterpieces. Exh. cat., Cincinnati Art Museum. Cincinnati, 1933, cat. 8, repr. (lent by Wildenstein & Co.)
Heil, W. Exhibition of French Painting from the Fifteenth Century to the Present Day. Exh. cat., California Palace of the Legion of Honor. San Francisco, 1934, p. 60, cat. 150 (lent by Wildenstein & Co.)
Bazin, G. "Rétrospective de L'art Français: Le Crotoy." L'Amour de l'Art (May 1937): 1-40, repr.
Richardson, E. P. The Way of Western Art. Cambridge, MA, 1939, pp. 162-163, pl. 143.
Newberry, J. S., Jr. The Age of Impressionism and Realism. Exh. cat., Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1940, cat. 39.
Newberry, J. S., Jr. "The Age of Impressionism.” Art News (May 4, 1940): 16, repr.
Rewald, J. Seurat. 1943, p. 79, pl. 91 (ill.). [as "Le Crotoy, Seaside"]
Rey, R. La Renaissance du Sentiment Classique Peinture Française à la Fin du XIX Siècle. Paris, (n.d.), p 124.
Rewald, J. "Journal inédit de Paul Signac (entry for 29 décembre 1894)." Gazette des Beaux-Arts, Sixth Series 36 (1949): 97-128, esp. p. 114.
Venturi, L. Impressionists and Symbolists. New York & London, 1950, pp. 148-149, fig. 154.
Laprade, J. de. Seurat. Paris, 1951, p. 73, repr.
Rich, D. C. Seurat-Paintings & Drawings. Exh. cat., Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago, 1958, p. 9, cited in chronology but not in exh.
Dorra, H. and J. Rewald. Seurat. Paris, 1959, pp. xxiv, lxx, lxxiii, lxxvi, xcii, xcvi, cii, cx, 244-245, cat. 193, repr. (with complete literature and exhibition history).
Hauke, C. M. de. Seurat et son Oeuvre. Paris, 1961, pp. 166-167, cat. 194, repr.
The Robert Hudson Tannahill Bequest to the Detroit Institute of Arts. Exh. cat., Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1970, pp. 16–19 (ill.), 29.
Cummings, Frederick J. and Charles H. Elam, eds. The Detroit Institute of Arts Illustrated Handbook. Detroit, 1971, p. 162 (ill.).
"La Chronique des Arts.” Gazette des Beaux-Arts, no. 1225 (February 1971): 94, no. 446, repr.
Zilczer, J. The Noble Buyer: John Quinn. Washington, 1978, p. 162, fig. 39, p. 52.
Post-Impressionism: Cross Currents in European Painting. Exh. cat., Royal Academy of Arts. London, 1979-1980, cat. 203, repr. (An abridged version of this exhibition was subsequently shown in Washington, National Gallery of Art in 1980.)
100 Masterworks from the Detroit Institute of Arts. New York, 1985, pp. 124-125, repr.
Thomson, R. Seurat. Oxford, 1985, pl. 191.
Herbert, Robert L. George Seurat: 1859-1891. Exh. cat., Grand Palais. Paris, 1991-1992, pp. 331-333, cat. 212, repr.
Lee, E. W. Gravelines: The Last Landscapes. Exh. cat., Indianapolis Museum of Art. Indianapolis, 199x (unpaginated), repr.
Message 1995. Exh. cat., Municipal Museum of Art. Toyota (Japan), 1995, pp. 56, 202, cat. 13, repr.
Degas to Matisse: Impressionist and Modern Masterpieces from The Detroit Institute of Arts. Exh. cat., the Phillips Collection. Washington, D.C., 2000, pp. 10-11, 27, 143, repr.
Wissman, F. European vistas, cultural landscapes. Detroit, 2000, p. 68, repr.
Braeuener, H. Les Peintres de la baie de Somme / autour de l'impressionnisme. Les beaux livres du Patrimoine. Tournai, 2001, pp. 124-126, color repr. p. 125 (w/o frame).
Corso, John J. “Organicism Revisited: Politics and Biological Metaphor in Beverly Fishman’s C.E.L. 109.” Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts 90, no. 1/4 (2016): pp. 9–10 (ill.).
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Credit Line for Reproduction
Georges Pierre Seurat, View of Le Crotoy from Upstream, 1889, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Bequest of Robert H. Tannahill, 70.183.
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