Yes. The created intellect needs the grace of supernatural illumination of the intellect in order to see the essence of God because when any created intellect sees the essence of God, the essence of God itself becomes the intelligible form of the intellect.
This supernaturally created light is necessary to see the essence of God, not in order to make the essence of God intelligible, which is of itself intelligible, but in order to enable the intellect to understand in the same way as a habit makes a power abler to act.