Île de la Jatte


The Île de la Jatte or Île de la Grande Jatte is an island in the river Seine, located in the department of Hauts-de-Seine, and shared between the two communes of Neuilly-sur-Seine and Levallois. It is situated at the very gates of Paris, being 7 km distant from the towers of Notre Dame and 3 km from the Place de l'Étoile. The island, which has about 4,000 inhabitants, is nearly 2 km long and almost 200 m wide at its widest point. Its name translates as "Island of the Bowl" or "Island of the Big Bowl".
It is best known as the setting for Georges Seurat's pointillist oil painting, Un Dimanche après-midi à l'Île de la Grande Jatte , and also for the Stephen Sondheim/James Lapine musical, Sunday in the Park with George.

History

In 1818, the Duke of Orléans, Louis-Philippe, acquired the Château de Neuilly to house his family of ten children. He bought the land and created a park which included the island, reachable only by boat. He also moved the Temple de Mars, which his father had commissioned, from Parc Monceau, and put it on the northern point of the island, converting it into the Temple de l’amour. It was moved to the southern end of the island in 1930.
Between 1850 and 1870, Napoléon III and Baron Haussmann further modified the island, and artists began painting there. At the end of the 19th century the island became known for its painters, especially the Impressionists. In addition to Georges Seurat, artist such as Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, Alfred Sisley, Charles Angrand, and Albert Gleizes painted scenes of the island.
In June 2009, a walk around the island was established, detailing the works of the Impressionists.

Selected paintings

Many artists have painted L’Île de la Grande Jatte:
, La Seine et le pont de la Grande Jatte, 1887
The following celebrities are known to have lived on the island: