Mrs. Keyfitz's Art Blog

Art Inspiration, Discussion & Appreciation




Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat (1884) What we learned- Seurat started the artist technique of pointillism, in which small distinct dots of color create the impression of a wide selection of other colors and optical blending. The figures in Seurat’s painting have a distinctly rounded, abstract quality, making them less realistic.  (Note the simplified forms of the bodies, as well as the faintly painted faces.) In Seurat’s pointillism method, he placed colored dots of two colors closely together to give the illusion of their mixing.  For example, the green grass is actually made up of tiny blue and yellow dots, which create the illusion of green. Discussion Questions- What is the “point” of pointillism? What figurative details are lost in Seurat’s rounding of the human form? Why would Seurat put blue and yellow next to each other to look like green instead of just using green paint?

Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat (1884)

What we learned-

  • Seurat started the artist technique of pointillism, in which small distinct dots of color create the impression of a wide selection of other colors and optical blending.
  • The figures in Seurat’s painting have a distinctly rounded, abstract quality, making them less realistic.  (Note the simplified forms of the bodies, as well as the faintly painted faces.)
  • In Seurat’s pointillism method, he placed colored dots of two colors closely together to give the illusion of their mixing.  For example, the green grass is actually made up of tiny blue and yellow dots, which create the illusion of green.

Discussion Questions-

  1. What is the “point” of pointillism?
  2. What figurative details are lost in Seurat’s rounding of the human form?
  3. Why would Seurat put blue and yellow next to each other to look like green instead of just using green paint?

Notes