Description
In the Woods at Pontaubert is Seurat’s early forest interior of 1881, painted years before the method we know him for. The original measures 62.5 x 79.1 centimetres and is held in New York by the Metropolitan Museum of Art under inventory number 1985.237. From us it is painted entirely by hand, oil on canvas, in eight sizes or to your own measurements, and before dispatch you receive a photograph of the finished work for approval.
| Title: | In the Woods at Pontaubert |
| Other titles: | The Forest at Pontaubert · Sous-bois à Pontaubert |
| Painter: | Georges Seurat (1859–1891) |
| Year painted: | 1881 |
| Original size: | 62.5 cm x 79.1 cm |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | Early period, before Pointillism |
| Located at: | The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv. no. 1985.237, Gallery 825) |
| Our reproduction: | hand-painted oil on canvas, 8 sizes from 40 x 50 cm to 130 x 160 cm, custom size on request |
In the Woods at Pontaubert – Georges Seurat
What is in the painting?
A forest interior, seen from close up and with no view out. The trunks rise through the whole height of the canvas, dense undergrowth between them, and from above the light falls in scattered patches that never become real rays. There is no path, no figure, no horizon – the viewer stands among the trees with nowhere to look out. The colour is green and brown, laid in tiny, short strokes that read more like woven cloth than like leaves.
Why does this early work matter?
Because it shows the painter before the method. The museum dates it to 1881, to the time when Seurat was twenty-two and his later dotted manner was still years away. What we see here is learning: a dense woodland scene in the manner the Barbizon painters used before him, with weight and density in front rather than light. That is exactly why the canvas is valuable: a canvas painting from these years is a rarity in Seurat, and this is among the larger of the survivors.
Where can you see the later Seurat in it?
In the stroke, not in the scene. The surface is already assembled from repeated units: tiny, short applications that build a plane side by side. This is not yet pointillism – the colours are not separated and do not mix in the eye – but it is the same way of thinking: the work as a structure of small, equal particles. Anyone who knows the late dots sees them here in embryo, five years before the Grande Jatte.
How did it reach the Metropolitan?
By a purchase that a gift made possible. The museum gives the mode of acquisition as a purchase funded by the gift of Raymonde Paul, in memory of her brother C. Michael Paul, by exchange, in 1985 – which is where the inventory number 1985.237 comes from. Today the work hangs in Gallery 825, the same room as Invitation to the Sideshow, so that the beginning and the summit of the same road hang in one space. The route before 1985 the museum’s entry does not publish, and so we do not describe it.
Where does it sit in Seurat’s work?
At the beginning, and by size among the largest of the early works. From the same years we also sell Figure in a Landscape at Barbizon, from the same woodland world, and Vase of Flowers, the painter’s only known still life. The summit of the road that began here is held by the Art Institute of Chicago, and here you will find it as Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. Neo-impressionism as a movement came only after this forest.
How is our hand-painted version made?
By hand and with a brush, never with a printer. Our painter works in oil paint on linen, and on this subject the green is the hard part: the forest has only a few colours and separates almost entirely by the density and temperature of the application. If the strokes grow too large the foliage turns into a flat plane; if they stay too small the weight is lost. Every hand-painted copy is therefore one of a kind and no two are quite alike; this is not an oil painting reproduction printed onto canvas but a painting made from scratch. Before dispatch we photograph the piece and send you the photograph for approval.
We hold no studio photographs of the finished work for this subject at present. When it is next painted we will photograph it and the shots will appear on this page.
Which size for which wall?
If you do not know which: 70 x 90 cm. The original measures 62.5 x 79.1 cm and our closest size is 63 x 78 cm – not quite one to one, but the closest of them all, and anyone who wants the work at the size of the original should choose exactly that. The format is upright, close to a 4 : 5 ratio, and so it asks for a narrow wall, an alcove, or the space between two windows: 40 x 50 and 50 x 60 cm for a shelf or a group of smaller works, 70 x 90 and 80 x 100 cm work as a standalone piece, and 90 x 110, 110 x 140 and 130 x 160 cm belong on large walls, where the forest really closes around the viewer. Every fine art reproduction of this subject is made to order.
Custom size, stretcher bar and frame
If none of the eight sizes fits your wall, we paint the work to your measurements and keep the ratio of the original so the forest is never stretched; that is our custom size painting service. You can order the painting in three forms: as a rolled canvas without a stretcher, stretched on a wooden stretcher bar and ready to hang, or framed; you choose the form when you order. You choose the frame in our 3D frame viewer: on this subject it shows every frame profile we carry, so you can compare gold, silver, black, white and natural wood — it is for choosing a frame and nothing else. To see how the work will look on your own wall, use our separate room-visualisation service.
Delivery and guarantee
Every copy is made to order in our studio, so allow 15 to 45 days depending on the size you choose. We ship it in the form you chose when ordering — rolled, stretched or framed — protected for transport, across the EU, customs-free. Before dispatch you receive a photograph of the finished work for approval, and our returns policy applies to every order. The full range by this painter is in the Georges Seurat gallery, and his path from forests like this one to the large canvases is described in our article about Georges Seurat, which also explains what separates a good famous painting copy from a poor one.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the original?
In New York, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, under inventory number 1985.237. The museum records it under the title The Forest at Pontaubert and shows it in Gallery 825.
What year is the work from?
The museum dates it to 1881 — a single year, with no “circa” and no span, and that is how we give it.
How large is the original?
The museum gives a height of 79.1 and a width of 62.5 centimetres, so 62.5 x 79.1 cm in our width-by-height notation. We already gave the same measurement, the museum confirmed it, and we changed nothing.
Why does the style row no longer say the dotted movement?
Because a work of 1881 is made years before the dotted method. We used to name that movement here; we corrected it to the museum’s dating, and the row now reads early period, before that method.
Is “The Forest at Pontaubert” the same work?
Yes. That is the title under which the museum records it; with us it is called In the Woods at Pontaubert. It is one and the same canvas.
Which size should I choose?
For a living room or a bedroom, 70 x 90 cm; if you want the size closest to the original, choose 63 x 78 cm. The full size guide is above.
Can I have a size that is not listed?
Yes. We paint to measure, keeping the side ratio of the original.
Is this a print?
No. The work is painted by hand in oil on linen; the strokes are visible and can be felt, which a print cannot imitate.
How is it delivered?
In the form you chose (rolled, stretched on a stretcher or framed), 15 to 45 days after you approve the photograph of the finished work.
Is the original for sale?
No. The canvas is in the public collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and is not for sale; a hand-painted canvas is the only way to have the subject at home.
Is it suitable as a gift?
Very. A woodland subject is quiet and suits almost any room, and the greens and browns agree with wood and natural fabrics. If you would rather leave the choice to the person receiving it, there is a gift voucher.
- Subject: a forest interior with no path and no horizon – trunks, undergrowth and scattered light
- Original: 62.5 x 79.1 cm, oil paint on canvas, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (1985.237)
- Ours: hand-painted in oil on linen, eight sizes from 40 x 50 to 130 x 160 cm, as a rolled canvas, stretched or framed — your choice
- Worth knowing: this French painter made this canvas at twenty-two, five years before the Grande Jatte
