Georges Seurat

By: Rebecca Emanuel

Biographical Information

• Born on December 2, 1859• Full name: Georges-Pierre Seurat• Youngest of 3 children• He was born into a very rich family in Paris. His

father was a wealthy lawyer named Chrsostome-Antoine Seurat. His mother, Ernestine Faivre, came from a rich Parisian family.

• He died at the age of 31 in 1891. (meningitis)

Biographical Information

• 1870s-Took private drawing lessons from his uncle, Paul Haumonte, a painter.

• 1875- Studied drawing under the sculptor Justin Lequien.• 1878-1879-Studied art at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in

Paris.• Seurat left the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1879 to perform

his military service in Brest. • He founded Neo-Impressionism• Created the principle of use of

Pointalism

Influential Life Experiences

• He traveled with Edmond-Francois Aman-Jeanto the island of La Grande Jatte. This island was the inspiration for manyof his future works.

Influential life experiences

• Seurat found lots of inspiration during his military career; much of his inspiration came from the beaches and sea. He created many different paintings and drawings at this time.

Artist’s Art Movement

• Seurat has been noted as the founder of Neo-Impressionism. (Post Impressionism)

• Major example as an “artist as a scientist.” All his life he studied color and theories and the effects of where they should be placed for different effects.

• The Pointillism technique, in which small dots of color are grouped to make more colors than that were used, was adopted by his followers, the Neo-Impressionists.

• Neo-Impressionism was the movement of applying separate colors to the surface so that the eye mixed the colors rather than the artist on his or her palette.

• It started in France and flourished from 1886 to 1906. • Seurat caused the changing point from the

Impressionism movement to Neo-Impressionism. He started using pointillism in his works to depict a new style of art. Many other artist followed and started using new ways that were not acceptable in the Impressionism Era.

Artist Art Movement

Artist’s Art Movement

• Neo-Impressionism led into the Fauvism and Expressionism era. This movement changes color, light, and texture for a desired effect. Georges Seurat affected this movement because the pointillism technique was still used, and so was the blending of colors.

Artist’s Art Movement

• Locations where he worked: Seurat moved wherever he found inspiration. He worked in the war and on the Island of La Grande Jatte. Many of his works were completed in his personal studio.

• Other influential artists at this time: Paul Signac, Camille Pissarro, and Lucien Pissarro.

• His most famous art works are Bathers at Asnières and A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.

A Sunday on La Grande Jatte

1884

Oil On Canvas

Le Bec du Hoc, Grandcamp1885Oil On Canvas

The Lighthouse at Honfleur

1886Oil on Canvas

Le port de GravelinesOil On Canvas1890

Young Woman Powdering Herself1890Oil on Canvas

Oil on canvas

1891The Circus