Seurat Study

8/7/2019 Seurat Study

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In the 1880's, when Seurat was painting, much research was done on color.The research was scientific in nature, and required writers to interpret itsmeaning for the greater population. It was during this time that the color wheelwas made, showing how different colors blend.

Pointillism is a type of painting that uses this knowledge of colors. The artist puts

dots of unmixed paint on the canvas and allows the colors to mix together in theeye. When viewed from a distance, the colors blend together to form a picture.

Seurat took this one step further. He did not use all of the colors; he used limitedcolors, but placed them next to one another to achieve the mixed look of adifferent color. Therefore, if you look closely, you might see that brown is madeof yellow, red, and white, which when viewed from a distance appear brown.This is much more difficult to do!

Look closely at the painting above, can you find any unexpected colors?

Georges Seurat Born: December 2, 1859Died: March 29, 1891 at age 31. Lived in France.Known forpointillist style of paintingapplying paint in dots which merge to form

pictures when viewed from a distance. The Siene at la Grande Jatte 1888


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La Parade 1888

Look closely at the detail of the man (to the right)from the larger painting.

If you look at his face, you will notice many orangedots. His hair and clothes also have many orangedots.

So what makes them appear to be different colorswhen viewed from a distance?

Look at only one quarter of the detail up close.Would you be able to tell what it was? Yet lookingat it from a distance, you can.


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Seurat also did many black and whitestudies, like this one, that appear in laterworks. Can you find this woman in thepainting above?

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande JatteThis is one of Seurat's most famous paintings. It tookhim two years to complete (1884 to 1886). The finishedpainting is 6 feet 10 inches tall and 10 feet 1 inch wide

(2 meters by 3 meters). How many people could hangthat painting in their homes? It is exhibited today at TheArt Institute of Chicago.

This is a Study for La Grande Jatte, done in 1884.A study is a preparatory work for a final piece ofartwork.


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Resources:Paintingswikimedia commonshttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Georges_Seurat

Information on paintings and artist styleWikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Seurat

Art Smarts 4 kids:http://artsmarts4kids.blogspot.com/2008/01/georges-seurat-part-1.html (this is agreat site for art information for kids!)

Information on Sunday on La Grande Jatte-Wikipediahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Sunday_Afternoon_on_the_Island_of_La_Grande_Jatte

Information on PointillismWikipediahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointillism

Leaf outline for Seurat painting experimentation--http://www.clker.com/clipart-maple-leaf-outline.html
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Georges_Seurathttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Seurathttp://artsmarts4kids.blogspot.com/2008/01/georges-seurat-part-1.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Sunday_Afternoon_on_the_Island_of_La_Grande_Jattehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointillismhttp://www.clker.com/clipart-maple-leaf-outline.htmlhttp://www.clker.com/clipart-maple-leaf-outline.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointillismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Sunday_Afternoon_on_the_Island_of_La_Grande_Jattehttp://artsmarts4kids.blogspot.com/2008/01/georges-seurat-part-1.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Seurathttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Georges_Seurat


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Documents

Seurat Study