Georges Seurat

Pointillism

Seurat placed pure dots of colour close together that only merge into forms and tones in the viewer's eye.

💡 Did you know? The dots merge only in the viewer's eye.

colour theory / science

Seurat based his painting on the scientific colour theories of his day: art as an almost exact method.

💡 Did you know? He himself called his technique „Divisionism“: the breaking of colour into pure components.

La Grande Jatte

It founded Neo-Impressionism.

💡 Did you know? „La Grande Jatte“ took Seurat two years and over 60 preparatory studies: applied dot by dot.

countless individual dots

Seurat's large pictures came about extremely slowly, built from countless tiny dots of colour.

💡 Did you know? „La Grande Jatte“ is roughly two by three metres: a sea of millions of individual dots.

Paris

Seurat worked in Paris and became the leader of a new movement, Neo-Impressionism.

💡 Did you know? Despite his short life, Seurat gathered a whole group of followers around him.

at 31 (1891)

He therefore left only a few large paintings.

💡 Did you know? Seurat died suddenly at only 31: probably of an infection; many of his works were left unfinished.

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte

Around 1884/86: made of millions of dots, an icon of modernity.

💡 Did you know? Parisians of all classes stroll by the Seine: look closely and everything is made of tiny dots of colour.

Bathers at Asnières

Painted around 1884.

💡 Did you know? Seurat's first major work shows workers bathing: before his full dot technique.

The Circus

Painted around 1891.

💡 Did you know? Seurat's last, unfinished picture: a circus scene full of upward-striving, cheerful lines.

Young Woman Powdering Herself

Painted around 1889.

💡 Did you know? Seurat portrayed his secret lover applying powder: his family learned of her only after his death.

Le Chahut

Painted around 1889.

💡 Did you know? Dancers kick up their legs in the can-can: Seurat sought gaiety even in rising lines.

The Circus Parade

Painted around 1887.

💡 Did you know? A mysteriously still circus parade under artificial evening light.

The Eiffel Tower

Painted around 1889.

💡 Did you know? Seurat painted the tower while it was still being built: an early monument to modernity in dots of colour.

The Channel of Gravelines

Painted around 1890.

💡 Did you know? On the coast at the canal Seurat found the quiet, clear order he loved.

Banlieue

Painted around 1881.

💡 Did you know? Even the bleak suburbs of Paris became a subject for Seurat.

Bridge of Courbevoie

Painted around 1880.

💡 Did you know? A calm river landscape in finely tuned, dotted tones.

The Forest at Pontaubert

Painted around 1881.

💡 Did you know? An early landscape in which Seurat was already experimenting with breaking up light.

Georges Seurat

Georges Seurat (1859 to 1891) was a French painter and founder of Pointillism, who built pictures from countless pure dots of colour.

💡 Did you know? Seurat died at only 31: in his short life he made only a few, but revolutionary, large paintings.