Seurat and Pointillism

Learning Objective: To explore Seurat’s paintings and how he created effects and shading.

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Who do you think painted this picture?

What style of painting have

they used?

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This painting of the Eiffel Tower was painted by Georges Seurat

using Pointillism.

Today we are going to be looking

at some more of Seurat’s

paintings!

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This painting is called ‘Le Chahut’. It was painted in 1890.

What can you see?

What kind of colours has

Seurat used?

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This painting is called ‘Port-au-Bessin, the

Outer Harbour’. It was painted in 1888.

What can you see?

What kind of colours

has Seurat used?

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This painting is called ‘Corner of the Harbour of Honfleur’. It was painted in

1886.

What can you see?

What kind of colours

has Seurat used?

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This painting is called ‘Young Woman Powdering Herself’. It was painted in

1890. This painting is a portrait of his girlfriend, Madeleine. Seurat was a

secretive man. Most people did not know about Madeleine until after he died.

Can you see the picture of flowers on the wall? This

used to be a mirror showing Seurat’s reflection but he painted over it so no one would know that he was

having a relationship with her. In those days, it was

considered very improper to have a relationship with someone if you weren’t

married.

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Let’s have another look at this painting...

How has Seurat used

dots to create

shading?

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Seurat has used his Pointillist technique very cleverly to create the illusion of light and dark. He uses lots

of dots close together to add shade. Where he wants the colour to be a

lighter shade, he uses fewer dots and spreads them out so the colour isn’t as dark. He also uses a similar technique

to blend the colours together.

Let’s have a look at how we

can use this technique for ourselves...

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Let’s have a look at how this circle has been shaded...

Start by placing a few dots far

apart.

Gradually add more dots that

are closer together. This will give more

shading.

Slowly add more dots that are closely packed together. The closer the dots, the darker the shading

will be.

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You can use a similar technique for blending and mixing colours.

Have a look at this circle. How have the yellow and red dots been blended? What is

the effect?

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Gradually mixing the yellow and red dots means you can blend the colours seamlessly. When the

yellow and red dots are placed next to each other, they create orange as you step away from the picture. This is called optical mixing because

it is your eyes that mix the colours together.

If your shape is yellow and you want the colours to mix so that another side of the shape gradually becomes red, add a few red dots to the

yellow dots. As you add more and more red dots and fewer yellow dots, the colour of the shape will get redder and redder and the middle of the

shape will look orange.

Are you ready to try some Pointillist shading of your own?