In 1886, the inventor of Divisionism entered the history of Modernism by exhibiting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. Was he merely depicting the joyful, light-hearted nature of Sunday strollers? Does his painting conceal a political message? Or is the subject of no importance to him? Was he interested only in form? These are just some of the contradictory views put forward by historians from diverse intellectual backgrounds.