Sunlight slows down Europeans. Look at all those
spellbound people in Seurat. Look at Monsieur,
sitting deeply. Where does a European go when he
is ‘lost in thought'? Seurat has painted that
place—the old dazzler! It lies on the other
side of attention, a long lazy boatride from here.
It is A Sunday rather than A Saturday afternoon
there. Seurat has made this clear by a special
method. "Ma méthode," he called it, rather testily,
when we asked him. He caught us hurrying through
the chill green shadows like adulterers. The
river was opening and closing its stone lips.
The river was pressing Seurat to its lips.