compare la grande jatte to paul signac’s “in the time of harmony” (1895-96) which envisions a timeless, classless, universalist utopia replete with wholesome recreation, human interaction, family values and a clean rural setting. seurat negates this classical nostalgia for a past that never existed. he highlights the artifice and isolation of modern life.
critic alfred paulet said: “the artist [seurat] has given his figures the automatic gestures of lead soldiers moving about on regimented squares. maids, clerks and troopers all move around with a similar slow, banal, identical step, which catches the character of the scene exactly…”