Georges Seurat Paintings

If you thought that only skills, artistry, and creativity are the factors behind brilliant paintings and masterpieces, then let us tell you about the man behind artworks with logic and science; Georges Seurat is famously known as the founder of the popular era of Neo-Impressionism who worked on his paintings using techniques like Pointillism and Divisionism or Chromo-luminarism. The term Neo-Impressionism was first used by Félix Fénéon and the purpose behind describing this era was to refer to George Seurat famous paintings. Georges Seurat paintings are known for their skills and mannerism which leave behind the practice of Impressionism on paintings. The Seurat artworks are calculated, measured, rooted in science, and flawlessly blended. He, along with other artists, worked towards a technique that produced extra vibrancy from colors along with a traditional method of mixing colors. His extraordinary work has influenced the likes of artists like Vincent Van Gogh and the Italian Futurists.

Born to Chrysostome-Antoine Seurat and his wife Ernestine Faivre on 2nd December 1859, Georges Seurat was the youngest in his family and came from a family of sculptors. His father was a bailiff who lived away in Le Raincy, a cottage, while Seurat stayed with his mother, brother Émile Augustin and sister Marie-Berthe. Seurat started his training in the field of arts in 1875 when he was studying in Ecole Municipale de Sculpture et Dessin under the sculptor Justin Lequien. Three years later, he formally joined the Ecole des Beaux-Arts where he was under the supervision of Henri Lehmann who was a disciple of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. Georges Seurat’s training in the coming years was to expose him to people and books which eventually gave birth to Georges Seurat style. Seurat was inspired by artists like David Sutter who studied mathematics and musicology together; Georges further studied the relationship between lines and images. The Georges Seurat artworks, its techniques, and scientific approach to colors were highly shaped by Charles Blanc’s ‘The Grammar of Painting and Engraving’ and Michel-Eugѐne Chevreul’s ‘The Principles of Harmony and Contrast of Colors’. In 1879, Seurat went to the Brest Military Academy to do his military service and during his time at the academy, Seurat, along with his friend Aman-Jean, used to explore various places and spent a decent amount of time sketching them ‒ a habit that was going to shape a majority of the Georges Seurat paintings.

Seurat art started taking shape with ‘Bathers at Asniѐres’‒ Georges Seurat’s first serious work. This oil on canvas Georges Seurat painting really intrigued Seurat’s contemporaries; he used complex brushstroke techniques and a contemporary method of applying colors. ‘Bathers at Asniѐres’ was one of the first Georges Seurat artworks, his second painting was a gem in itself, something that took two years to complete. Seurat’s famous painting ‘Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte’ has been one of his finest works to date. Spread over a 10 foot-wide canvas, Seurat started working on this painting in 1884; he would occasionally visit the island situated in a Parisian suburb of Neuilly and would observe his subjects. He made over 30 rough oil sketches before beginning the original work on canvas. After working and reworking on this painting for over two years he finally managed to complete it in 1886. This Georges Seurat art was assumed to be a mirror painting of ‘Bathers at Asniѐres’ where he painted various people of different classes spending time on the island. This Georges Pierre Seurat painting is the perfect example of a Neo-Impressionist painting. He worked with the technique of Chromo-luminarism, parallelly known as Divisionism and Pointillism ‒ a classical Georges Seurat style.

George Seurat and Paul Signac are known for discovering the pointillist technique known as Pointillism. Seurat paintings were known to leave behind the techniques and ideas of the Impressionist era; rather than mixing colors in a palette and producing desirable individual colors, Seurat started with the practice of directly applying small dots of colors on the canvas without merging them. This was done so flawlessly that the viewer couldn’t figure out if the colors were blended manually or not, this very optical illusion makes Georges Seurat paintings stand out from the rest. Seurat’s understanding of colors and brushstrokes from his early training in art and painting pushed him to produce something that was different from the others and something that had logic and science behind paintings rather than just colors and creativity. Pointillism was a very prominent technique used in Seurat paintings; this particular technique of applying small dots of colors was done in a manner that would eventually form a bigger image. Divisionism on the other hand was the technique of putting together several dots of different colors together which optically pleased the viewer; since this technique was done to achieve maximum luminosity for the colors it was also known as Chromo-luminarism. These methods were used to create an illusion of a perfectly blended painting with maximum light on the canvas. While Pointillism concerned itself with specific techniques of the brushstroke, Divisionism was a technique that focused on the colors.

Georges Seurat died at the age of 31; his death came unexpectedly with reports that he might have been affected by pneumonia, diphtheria, or meningitis. The last Georges Seurat art is known to be the ‘Cirque’ or ‘The Circus’ which was left unfinished but yet, was exhibited by Seurat himself right before his death. He also left heaps of his typical Georges Seurat styled paintings, artwork, and sketches. There were over 40 small-sized paintings, seven huge paintings, close to five hundred sketches and drawings that were left behind by Seurat. In his lifetime and his death, Seurat inspired many artists who continued the trend of Neo-Impressionism. Seurat artwork ushered in a new era of tactical, measured, and yet, a creative method of portraying colors and art.

Our exceptional collection of Georges Seurat paintings have some of his finest works and even an oil sketch of his famous work ‘A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte’. George Seurat Pointillism paintings reflect the techniques that he diligently worked towards and these very efforts put logic and science in compliance with art. Our collection has the Black Cow in a Meadow (ca. 1881) Georges Seurat painting, A Fisherman Georges Seurat painting, A Man-jean, Portrait of Edmond Francois Georges Seurat painting, Final Study for “Bathers at Asniѐres” Georges Seurat painting, Oil Sketch for “La Grande Jatte” Georges Seurat painting, Seated Woman with a Parasol Georges Seurat painting, The Mower Georges Seurat painting and Two Sailboats at Grandcamp Georges Seurat painting.

George Seurat and Paul Signac are known for discovering the pointillist technique known as Pointillism. Seurat paintings were known to leave behind the techniques and ideas of the Impressionist era; rather than mixing colors in a palette and producing desirable individual colors, Seurat started with the practice of directly applying small dots of colors on the canvas without merging them. This was done so flawlessly that the viewer couldn’t figure out if the colors were blended manually or not, this very optical illusion makes Georges Seurat paintings stand out from the rest. Seurat’s understanding of colors and brushstrokes from his early training in art and painting pushed him to produce something that was different from the others and something that had logic and science behind paintings rather than just colors and creativity. Pointillism was a very prominent technique used in Seurat paintings; this particular technique of applying small dots of colors was done in a manner that would eventually form a bigger image. Divisionism on the other hand was the technique of putting together several dots of different colors together which optically pleased the viewer; since this technique was done to achieve maximum luminosity for the colors it was also known as Chromo-luminarism. These methods were used to create an illusion of a perfectly blended painting with maximum light on the canvas.