SEURAT GEORGES

Georges Seurat died in 1891, aged only 32, and yet in a career that lastedlittle more than a decade he revolutionized technique in painting,spearheaded a new movement, Neoimpressionism, and bought a degree ofscientific rigour to his investigations of colour that would proveprofoundly influential well into the 20th century. As a student at theEcole des Beaux-Arts, Seurat read Chevreul's 1839 book on the theory ofcolour and this, along with his own analysis of Delacroix' paintings andthe aesthetic observations of scientist Charles Henry, led him toformulate the concept of Divisionism. This was a method of painting aroundcolour contrasts in which shade and tone are built up through dots of paint(pointillism) that emphasise the complex inter-relation of light andshadow. Two paintings more than any others reflect his investigations inthis area - 1884's "Bathers at Asnieres" and 1886's "A Sunday Afternoon atthe Ile de La Grande Jatte". Their impact was immediate and enormous.Opposed to any popularization of his theories, he only relented in 1890and agreed to the publication of a summary volume. However, by then he hadjust a year to live.