For French painter Georges Pierre Seurat, the world of art needed a change. He felt things had grown too stale and predictable. In his mind, art had become little more than a series of boundaries and categories, the opposite of what art is actually supposed to be.
Instead of falling into one of these categories or boundaries, Seurat set out to innovate and create new ones. He felt that the ‘new’ scientific world that was blossoming in society at the time could also be adopted and applied to the world of art.
As a result, the scientific approach to painting was born to which Seurat was one of its significant pioneers and benefactors. The following is a look into this revolutionary neo-impressionist approach and why Georges Seurat is considered the greatest of them all.
The Pointillist Pioneer
When Seurat created pointillism, he was not trying to re-create photographic realism, which was believed to be the pinnacle of artistic achievement. Instead, Seurat believed the opposite and was more interested in conveying the scene’s emotion, impression, and mood rather than merely the scene itself.
As Seurat played around with ideas of how best to achieve this ‘mood,’ he discovered that the style of pointillism was the ideal way (at least for him) to capture the sense of slowness and stillness within his scenes.
Pointillism is a technique of painting where the artist uses tiny dots of various colors which become blended in the viewer’s eyes. Then, the colored ‘dots’ are applied to the image to form a complete pattern. Seurat believed that this gave his paintings a more excellent brightness and brilliance of color.
The pointillism technique works in stark contrast to that of the traditional method of blending color pigments on a pallet. Instead, it relies on the viewer’s eyes and mind to combine the colors into a fuller uniformed image. This is a genius representation of color and is perhaps Seurat’s most significant contribution to art.
Director of Divisionism
Along with pointillism, Georges Seurat is also credited with inventing another style of painting named Divisionism. Also known as Chromoluminarism, it is very similar to pointillism in that it separates color into dots or patches which intersect and interact with each other optically.
It follows the same formula in theory as pointillism, where the artist uses three of four colors closely together throughout the image. However, it is different from pointillism because it focuses more on colors and the specific separation of colors in their relationship to one another, hence the name Divisionism.
Along with the Neo-Impressionist movement, Pointillism and Divisionism found their beginnings in Seurat’s masterpieces. Consequently, Seurat began a trend that would be seen in many artists’ work in the years to follow.
The Neo-Impressionist Innovator
Neo-impressionism is the term used to describe the artistic movement started by Georges Seurat. It emerged when old ways wore out many artists and painters looking for new expression methods.
Artists were particularly interested in neo-impressionism for its exposure to urban scenes and themes and its scientific interpretation. They were also enticed by its proposed ability to expand the vibrancy of colors and its attempt to adapt science into the medium of art harmoniously.
Pointillism and Divisionism may have been the first dominant styles of Neo-Impressionism, but this would soon evolve and inspire other artists to further the type. This included radical new methods such as Cubism and Surrealism, to name just a few.
The Scientific Approach
Before Georges Seurat and Paul Signac’s scientific theories on color and vision, art was seen predominantly as an act of intuition and inspiration. Seurat is believed to have created a more vibrant way to depict pure color by using more systematic methods.
As an example of the theory in practice, by spreading out degrees of yellow and orange colors to represent the action of the sun throughout the painting, this would achieve the effect of direct sunlight.
Seurat’s theory, accompanied by his beautiful paintings such as “The Bathers at Asnières and Sunday Afternoon on La Grande Jatte”, quickly gathered interest from fellow artists and would become a core style of art in the generations to come. Check Georges Seurat drawings and style of painting, compare them with other painters and after that you could give your own feedback.
A Man of The People
Perhaps another lesser-known attribute associated with Seurat’s artwork is the underlying themes involving the ‘common’ people. Many artists focus on grand themes or broad, lavish landscapes, but Seurat made a point in his work to focus on everyday people going about their daily lives.
Indeed, these ‘people’ are often the major attraction of Seurat’s art and are embodied beautifully within his work. Another aspect of this is how Seurat, by his work, is said to be commenting on and critiquing many of the problems of the society in which he lived.
In particular, it is believed that Seurat may have had a distaste for the upper-middle class and often portrayed them as greedy and lazy. The painting of “Sunday Afternoon” is a perfect example of this as it shows members of each social class engaging in different park activities.
Sunday Afternoon on the Island of la Grande Jatte 1886 – Georges Seurat
The Bottom Line
To conclude, Georges Seurat unquestionably played an integral role in developing the modern art movement. His revolutionary ideas and scientific approach significantly altered how the art would be produced in the 20th century. Still, he also inspired many other artists to experiment with new modes of expression, resulting in the emergence of a new and original artistic world.
