Art History and Artistsointillism

History >> Art History

General Overview

Pointillism is often considered part of the Post-impressionist movement. It was primarilyinvented by painters George Seurat and Paul Signac. While Impressionists used smalldabs of paint as part of their technique, Pointillism took this to the next level using onlysmall dots of pure color to compose an entire painting.

When was the Pointillism movement?

Pointillism reached its peak in the I 880s and 1 890s after the Impressionist movement.Many of the concepts and ideas, however, continued to be used by artists in the future.

What are the characteristics of Pointillism?

Unlike some art movements, Pointillism has nothing to do with the subject mailer of thepainting. It is a specific way of applying the paint to the canvas. In Pointillism thepainting is made up entirely of small dots of pure color. See the example below.

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See the dots that make up the man from Seurat’s painting The Circus

Pointillism used the science of optics to create colors from many small dots placed soclose to each other that they would blur into an image to the eye. This is the same way

computer screens work today. The pixels in the computer screen are just like the dots ina Pointillist painting.

Examples of Pointillism

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jane (Georges Seurat)

This painting is by far the most famous of the Pointillism paintings. It was GeorgeSeurat’s masterpiece. It is over 6 feet tall and 10 feet wide. Every bit of the painting isdone with tiny little dots of pure color. Seurat worked on it for around two years. You cansee it today at the Art Institute of Chicago.

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Sunday on the Island of La Grande Jatte(Click image to see larger version)

Sunday (Paul Signac)

Paul Signac studied Pointillism with George Seurat. In the painting Sunday you can seehis technique. The colors are very bright and the lines quite sharp when viewed from adistance. The painting is of a typical Parisian husband and wife spending Sundayafternoon together in their home.

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Sunday by Paul Signac(Click image to see larger version)

Morning, Interior(Maximilien Luce)

Luce used Pointillism when painting scenes of people at work. This painting shows aman getting ready for work in the morning. The colors are vibrant and you can see theearly morning sunlight entering the room through the windows.

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Morning, Interior by Maximilien Luce(Click image to see larger version)

Famous Pointillism Artists

• Charles Angrand - Angrand experimented with Pointillism. In some works heused fine, small dots of paint. In other works he used larger dabs of paint to get arougher effect.

• Maximilien Luce - A French Neo-impressionists, Luce used Pointillism in many ofhis works. Perhaps his most famous Pointillism paintings were a series ofpaintings of Notre Dame.

• Theo Van Rysselberghe - Van Rysselberghe painted several paintings using thePointillism technique. His most famous is probably a portrait of his wife anddaughter. Later in his career he would move back to broader brush strokes.

• Georges Seurat - Seurat was the founder of Pointillism. He studied the science ofcolors and optics to invent this new technique.

• Paul Signac - Signac was the other founding father of Pointillism. When Seuratdied young, Signac continued to work with Pointillism and left a large legacy ofartwork using the style.

Interesting Facts about Pointillism

• Seurat called the style of painting Divisionism when he invented it, but the namewas changed over time.

• The smaller the dots, the clearer the painting and the sharper the lines, just likewith the screen resolution on a computer monitor.

• In many ways Pointillism was as much a science as an art.• Vincent Van Gogh experimented with the Pointillism technique. It is evident in his

1887 self portrait.• The style often used dots of complementary colors to make their subjects more

vibrant. Complementary colors are colors of the opposite hue, for example redand green or blue and orange.

Georges SeuraBiography Art History

• Occupation: Artist, Painter• Born: December 2, 1859 in Paris, France• Died: March 29, 1891 (age 31) in Paris, France• Famous works: Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jafte, Bathers at

Asnières, The Circus• StylelPeriod: Pointillism Neoimpressionist

Biography:

Where did Georges Seurat grow up?

Georges Seurat grew up in Paris, France. His parents were wealthy allowing him tofocus on his art. He was a quiet and intelligent child who kept to himself. Georgesattended the School of Fine Arts in Paris starting in 1878. He also had to serve a year inthe military. Upon his return to Paris he continued to refine his art skills. He spent thenext two years drawing in black and white.

Bathers at Asnieres

With the help of his parents, Georges set up his own art studio not far from their house.Because his parents supported him, George was able to paint and explore any areas ofart he chose. Most of the poor artists at the time had to sell their paintings to survive.

Georges first major painting was Bathers at Asnieres. It was a large painting of peoplerelaxing near the water at Asnieres. He was proud of the painting and submitted it to theofficial French art exhibition, the Salon. The Salon, however, rejected his work. Hejoined the Society of Independent Artists and presented his art at their exhibition.

Bathers at Asnieres(Click image to see larger version)

Pointillism

Seurat began to explore the science of optics and color. He found that, rather thanmixing the colors of paint on a palette, he could place tiny dots of different colors next toeach other on the canvas and the eye would mix the colors. He called this way ofpainting Divisionism. Today we call it Pointillism. Seurat felt that this new way ofpainting would make the colors appear more brilliant to the viewer.

Paul Signac

Paul Signac was a good friend of Seurats. He began to paint using the same method ofPointillism. Together they pioneered a new way of painting and a new style of art.

Sunday on the Island of La Grande Jatte

In 1884 Seurat began to work on his masterpiece. He would use pointillism to paint ahuge painting called Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. It would be 6feet 10 inches tall by 10 feet 1 inches wide, but would be painted entirely with small dotsof pure color. The painting was so complex that it took him nearly two years of non-stopwork to finish. Each morning he would go to the scene and make sketches. Then in theafternoon he would return to his studio to paint until late at night. He kept the painting asecret, not wanting anyone to know what he was doing.

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(Click image to see larger version)

When Seurat finally exhibited the painting in 1886, people were amazed. Some thoughtthis new way of painting was the wave of the future in art. Others criticized it. Eitherway, Seurat was now considered one of the leading artists in Paris.

Continued Work

Seurat continued to paint using the pointillism style. He also experimented with lines. Hefelt that different types of lines could express different types of emotions. He also grewto be friends with other Post-impressionist artists of the time including Vincent vanGogh and Edoar Degas.

Early Death

When Georges was just 31 years old he became very sick and died. He likely died frommeningitis.

Legacy

Seurat gave the world of art new ideas and concepts in color and how the eye workstogether with color.

Interesting Facts about Georges Seurat

• He had a wife and child that he kept secret from his mother. His son died at thesame time he did of the same disease.

• He must have had a great amount of patience to paint such large complexpaintings using only small dots of color.

• His paintings worked a lot like computer monitors work today. His dots were likethe pixels on a computer screen.

• A lot of what we know about Seurat today comes from the diary of Paul Signacwho liked to write.

• His final painting was The Circus.

More examples of Georges Seurat’s Art:

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