Every day from spring to fall, a scene reminiscent of Georges Seurat’s most famous painting is reenacted next to the Lafontaine Park pond in Montreal. It’s as much of a scene as any bar or café: teenagers flirting, sunbathers bathing, les ostie de gratteux de guitare strumming their guitars.

Thinking back to my most recent visit to the park, in late October, and looking at Seurat’s painting, I wonder what particular alchemy leads to a place becoming a natural gathering spot for loafers and loiterers. English Bay in Vancouver, the southeast steps of Union Square in New York, Parliament Hill in Hampstead Heath — is all it takes a slope and an open view? Or is there another ingredient?

From Urban Photo. Follow DeWolf on Twitter.

Subscribe to Maisonneuve today.

Related on maisonneuve.org:

—Drawn and Quartered
—Another Montreal: Special Tours for the Indifferent Traveller
—Montreal's Navarino Cafe: A Love Letter

Follow Maisonneuve on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr.