Georges Seurat - Biography
- ️Sat Jun 26 2004
Les Poseuses - 1888
Imagine you are a painter and you create your paintings by putting tiny little dots in primary colors on a canvas. At the beginning, you probably consider it quite funny. After a while, you might get bored, and one day it will drive you nuts.
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Georges Seurat - Inventor of Pointillism
For this simple reason alone, pointillism, as this technique was called, could never become a mainstream art movement. It remained a short-lived, charming episode in art history, notable but not enduring.
The inventor of Pointillism and its major representative was Georges Seurat. Tragically, he died very young at age 31. His dot technique flourished only from around 1880 to 1900.
Biography
Georges Seurat was born on December 2, 1859, in Paris. He was one of many young painters seeking a new style. Seurat came from a middle-class family and had inherited from his father. Although not wealthy, Seurat never had to endure the financial struggles of artists like van Gogh or Paul Gauguin. He attended the Ecole des Beaux Arts, where he learned to create realistic drawings of Greek statues and nude models.
While at the Academy, Seurat studied the color theories of Charles Blanc (1813-1882), Eugene Chevreul (1786-1889), and Ogden Nicholas Rood (1831-1902). Chevreul's 1839 book detailed principles of complementary colors and revealed that all colors stem from red, yellow, and blue.
After French Impressionism
In the 1880s, as Impressionism gained public popularity, it faced internal crises. Pioneers like Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, and Edgar Degas had joined the art establishment and quarreled among themselves. Younger artists sought a new direction rooted in scientific theory rather than spontaneity.
Pointillism
The Channel at Gravelines, Evening
In 1879, Georges Seurat left the Ecole des Beaux Arts and rented a small studio in Paris. He led a reclusive life, passionately exploring color theories.
In 1883, Seurat began his first large-format painting, Bathers at Asnieres. Before the final piece, he created meticulous drawings and oil sketches—a practice he maintained throughout his career. Unlike the Impressionists, Seurat worked indoors in his studio.
The revolutionary aspect of Seurat's work was his application of Chevreul's color theory. Red, yellow, and blue wavelengths mix on the retina, not the palette. Seurat applied tiny dots of complementary colors on the canvas and abandoned black entirely.
If you visit a museum displaying a "dot" painting, examine it up close and from afar to appreciate the blending effect of this technique.
A Sunday on La Grande Jatte
Bathers at Asnieres was rejected by the official Salon but caught the attention of young painters like Paul Signac, who became a staunch advocate of Pointillism.
Seurat's next masterpiece, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, epitomizes Pointillism and remains a highlight of the Chicago Art Institute.
Afterward, Seurat continued creating in his meticulous dot style. His subjects included landscapes, nudes, and a portrait of his companion Madelaine Knobloch, a working-class woman who bore his child but was never accepted by his family.
The Circus of Life
The Circus
In his final years, Seurat painted circus-themed works with stylized compositions. The Circus, created in 1891, was unfinished at his death. It was later acquired by Paul Signac and is now housed in the Musee d'Orsay in Paris.
Seurat's dedication to his artistic mission was unwavering, consuming his short life.
Georges Seurat and Modern Art Movements
Georges Seurat died at 31 from diphtheria. While Pointillism persisted briefly under Paul Signac and others, it never became a mainstream movement. It remains a distinctive chapter in modern art history.
Seurat's work influenced Fauvism and Cubism, securing his legacy. A major Seurat retrospective was held at the New York Metropolitan Museum in 1991-1992.
Author:
Dieter Wanczura
First Publication: 6/26/2004
Latest Update: 12/15/2024
Bibliography
- Georges Seurat, The Master of Pointillism, Benedikt Taschenverlag GmbH, Koeln, 2000, ISBN 3-8229-5863-3.
- David Boyle, "Impressionist Art", Watson-Guptill Publications, ISBN 0-8230-0988-2.
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