GEORGES SEURAT 1859-1891

Known as the inventor of Pointillism, Georges Seurat has however followed a classic artistic education at l'École des Beaux Arts, based on the study of live models and the representation of mythological or historical topics. Nevertheless, he seems to have left aside these lessons in order to devote himself to a new pictorial movement: Pointillism. Following in the footsteps of Impressionism, this movement wishes to recreate images by using small distinct dots of colors. Founded on the scientific theories of color complementarity developed by Eugène Chevreul and Charles Henry, this new aesthetic can be distinguished by its saturated colors. In that way, it has often been considered that Pointillism paved the way for Fauvism. If the Pointillist approach changes from the Impressionist one, the topics haven't changed: seascapes, rural landscapes, and scenes from daily life... Seurat did not produce a lot during his career, however his paintings such as Une baignade à Asnières, Un dimanche après-midi à l'Île de la Grande Jatte are all great examples of the ambitions of this movement. His artworks have been exhibited at the Salon des artistes Indépendants or the eighth Impressionist exhibition held in 1886. Georges Seurat died suddently in his early thirties and left behind him paintings that are nowadays exhibited in the world's most renowned museums: London's National Gallery, Chicago's Art Institute, Paris's Musée d'Orsay...