Georges-Pierre Seurat was a French Neo-Impressionist painter in the late 19th century who developed the technique of pointillism. Pointillism involved applying small dots or points of pure color close together so that from a distance they visually blend in the eye of the observer. Seurat was inspired by scientific theories on color and contrast, and used this technique to carefully organize color on his canvases. He would labor for up to a year on preparatory studies before beginning a final painting using the pointillist method.

1. Painting With Dots POINTILLISM PROJECT

2. Georges- Pierre Seurat 1859 -1891 French Neo-Impressionist Painter Devised a technique of painting called pointillism

6. The Law of Simultaneous Contrast

7. The Law of Simultaneous Contrast

8. The Law of Simultaneous Contrast

9. The Law of Simultaneous Contrast

10. Seurat was interested in geometry and talked about “organizing” the color on his canvas. Emphasis on design accounts for the static, unmoving quality of many neo-impressionist paintings. Like the Impressionists, Seurat was interested in portraying subject matter such as city life and popular entertainment. However, he endowed them with qualities of mystery and mood.

11. Detail from Circus Sideshow (or Parade de Cirque) (1889)

12. A Sunday on La Grande Jatte -- 1884, 1884-86 (Art Institute of Chicago)

13. Seurat labored intensively on preparatory studies for up to a year before beginning a final painting.

16. The Eiffel Tower 1889

17. Le Cirque, 1890-91

18. Bathers at Asnières, Georges Seurat, 1884 (National Gallery, London)

19. Conte Crayon Study of boy on right

20. Studies for Une Baignade, Asnieres (The Bathers): 1883: 4 of 14 panels produced as preliminaries for the final canvas .

21. The Seine at Courbevoiec. 1885