Le Chahut

2021 ends today!

Today, on this occasion we present a very cheerful, party painting from the collection of the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo. But no matter how you spend the last hours of this year, we, the whole DailyArt Team, would like to thank you for being with us.  :)

Have a crazy party like the dancers depicted by Seurat, or the opposite, a calm evening at home, however, you prefer!  :)  Now let's move on to the painting!

The women and men in this painting are enthusiastically dancing the chahut, or can-can, a risqué dance for that period, whereby the women lift their skirts and wave their legs in the air. Despite the energetic subject, Le Chahut is not a fleeting scene from the Parisian nightlife, but a painstakingly deliberated painting. Seurat is fascinated by the effect of light and color and purposefully seeks a systematic method by which to render this effect. He has captured the flamboyant dance in a strict system of countless minutely applied dots of paint, lines, and color combinations.

The dancehall is bathed in warm colors and glowing artificial light. The dancers appear more archetypes than people of flesh and blood. They move in a rhythmic repetition. All the lines and movements in the painting are directed upwards to evoke the excited atmosphere of the dance and the music: the dancers’ legs, the conductor’s hand, the men’s moustaches, the corners of the ladies’ mouths and eyes, the neck of the double bass, and even the flowers in the background.

See you tomorrow, in 2022!

P.S. On this day we have a special treat for you; see here the best fireworks in painting! Happy New Year. <3

P.P.S. I don't know if you're ready for 2022 but if not - our paper calendars can help you to make the upcoming year a little more beautiful and filled with art. Check them out here!