A rare talent and a person with unthinkable creative spark, Georges Seurat was a name in himself in the art culture. He was an artistic flame that changed the landscape of traditional painting style and gave the world a beautiful art technique known as pointillism.
He was born with a creative wit and embraced it throughout his life. He not only did inspire many art hearts but practiced the skills of the ones who inspired him. His inspirations and acquaintances influenced him to become the finest art personality he eventually was.
Navigate the segment below to know more about Georges Seurat’s artworks’ aesthetically creative artistic journey. Get to know more about who inspired him, his learnings, and Georges Seurat painter throughout his life.
Early Artistic Encouragement
From his childhood, Seurat shared deep interests in artworks and creative dilemmas. The journey of Georges Seurat was distinct from that of an ordinary artist. He studied notable drawings and figures in his ten years. Georges Seurat artworks from his early years were based on figures like Justin Lequien and Henry Lehmann.
He pioneered an artistic movement all by himself, combining science and art. His first acquaintance to guide him in science matters was scientist Michel Eugene Chevreul.
Michel taught Georges many lessons on color mixing and combinations. While working with Eugene, he realized that the overlapping primary colors correspond to the formation of a third color from a distance. Chevrul’s findings not only inspired Seurat but other ace artists of the generation. His revelations further prospered and reached potential artists like Charles Blanc.
Seurat adopted Learnings from Chevreul and applied them to develop his unique style, later known as Pointillism. The scenes he portrayed and the color schemes he introduced in his artworks depicted proximity to the scientific approach given by Eugene.
Progressive Influence on Seurat
At 20, Georges Seurat left Ecole des Beaux, an art school, after getting inspired by the book “Essai Sur Les signed inconsitionnels,” which can be translated into English as “Essay on the Unmistakable Signs of Art.”
It was a book written by Humbert de Superville that affected Seurat’s paintings to a great extent. After leaving the school in 1881, he moved to the island of La Grande Jatte with his friend, Edmond-Francois Aman-Jean. Moving to the island was Georges Seurat’s biggest inspiration, and he painted his career-defining pieces during this time.
In 1883, Seurat’s groundbreaking artwork Bathers at Asnieres got rejected, impacting him to his heart’s core. Affected by the rejection, he didn’t lose hope and instead turned his back on the conventional artistic exhibitions. Instead, he joined Groupe des Artistes Indépendants and was engaged in transforming modern art and subject matters.
It was the period when Georges Seurat met Paul Signac from the circle of artists. Seurat shared his firm viewpoints on pointillism, and Signac, considering the same, began painting in a similar style. The art style was very much applauded and appreciated with the completion of his mural-sized project, Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.
Major Influences and Inspirations For Georges Seurat’s Artworks
A book popularly known as Grammaire des arts au dessin by Charles Blanc had similar ideas and represented different studies of colors, much like Michel Eugene’s understanding of painting. The initial studies of Michel Eugene, Ogden Rood, and David Sutter were all compiled in this book.
These scientists’ plain term theories on perceptive colors and optical effects were first originated by great scientists of all times, Issac Newton and Helmholtz. Other than this, Chevreul was an inspiration for Seurat because he first crafted the color wheel.
Later on, these were put into simplistic visual terms by mixing the primary and intermediaries’ hues. What made it easy to interpret was the book by Blanc, which mentioned it in a straightforward and understandable format. All the styles and techniques listed in but shaped the neo-impressionist artworks and directly connected with legendary artists.
David Sutter, Charles Henry, Odgen Rood and Juxtaposition of Colors
Charles Henry and David Sutter build the art understanding corresponding to that of music. Early pieces of pointillism stemmed from Sutter in the 1880s. In his work Phenomena of Vision, he illustrated the harmony of art not being different from music.
On the contrary, mathematician Charles Henry delivered monologues to amplify the emotional relevance of lines and colors, how they run parallel to each other, and the importance of these to drawing an elusive artwork. All these theories in their varied bit Seurat to progress more towards pointillism.
Ogden Rood’s theories were poles apart from the classic neo-impressionist artist, and that’s why they hit Seurat on the right nerve. Instead, his studies and theories centralized Helmholtz’s viewpoints on the juxtaposition of material pigments.
Rood’s ideologies concluded that they would create a third color if two colors were placed together. The main highlight of this concept refers to a point where colors can be represented as is in their purest forms, just like they are in a paint tube, bright and shiny. This theory worked the best for Seurat in complementing Seurat’s paintings on pointillism.
The Bottom Line
Check Georges Seurat’s drawings like A River Bank, Horses on Water, Seascape at Port en Bessin Normandy, and many others to know more about Georges Seurat painter. These are all famous Georges Seurat artworks that left a legacy in the art world. In addition, these are all the initial George Seurat pointillism paintings that inspired many influential painters like Paul Signac and Maximilien Luce.