Justin Manwill

Mike Muir
ART-1010
03-14-2015
Georges Seurat Report
So my report is on the famous French painter Georges Seurat along with being a great
painter Seurat was also a draftsman. Georges Seurat from what I could find was a very dedicated
artist and had a very positive personality he made friends throughout the world of art he shared
his ideas and thoughts with other artists. He just seemed to love art and he put his personality
into his work.
Unlike other artists Georges Seurat didnt have a an explosive temperament , like after his
paintings were rejected by the Paris Salon he just turned down a different path and avoided such
establishments thinking he could make it on his own. Which he did by applying himself with the
independent artists in Paris. Which lead to him along with fellow artists including Maximillian
Luce to form the Society des Artistes Independents. Which is where he met many of his future
friends.
Georges had what seems to be a very strange family life, He lived in a studio apartment
in Boulevard de Clichy with Madeleine Knobloch in secrecy. And to my knowledge they never
did get married however in February 1890 she gave birth to his son. And not until a few short
days before his death did he introduce Madeleine and their son to his family. He then passed
away two days later with the cause of death still unknown. Madeleine gave birth to a second son

shortly after Georges death whose name is unknown due to the fact he died at birth or shortly
after.
George Seurat was born December 2nd 1859 and passed away on March 29th 1891 he was
only 32 years old. He lived in the time period of the Post-Impressionism movement, the NeoImpressionism movement, and the Pointillism movement. Georges believed that a painter cold
use color to create emotion and harmony in a work of art much like a musician does with music.
His painting Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte completely altered the
direction of modern art by starting the Neo-Impressionism movement.
His major piece of art and the most famous is Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La
Grande Jatte which like I said started the Neo-Impressionism movement and is one of the
biggest icons of the 19th century paintings. It takes the modern day beach seen and sends it back
to the 18th century with both men and women from each social class participating in activities
and enjoying a day sitting at the beach. This painting took Seurat two years to complete and was
10 feet wide.
This painting shows happy emotions it shows that everyones can have fun and
participate in the same types of things no matter where or what social class you come from.
Which puts more of a meaning and a lesson to learn from this artwork. Like he said that he fully
believed through painting he could create emotion much like a musician can and I think he fully
proves that with this work of art.
Seurats style evolved over the years like any good artists does he first mastered black
and white drawing which stemmed from him always being in a hurry and he could quickly
capture the scene. He then moved on to portraying the essence of light which made his black and

white drawings a perfect medium. Latter in his career he found a keen interest in the science of
color, Seurats use of color likes his theories on science and emotion which he felt colors relayed
certainty emotions to the observer. He thought of this as a new language which he named
chromoluminarism in his famous painting Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande
Jatte

Venezia, Mike, Georges Seurat (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists), Danbury
CT, Childrens Pr. 2003. English

Amory, Dita. "Georges Seurat (18591891) and Neo-Impressionism". In Heilbrunn

Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000.
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/seni/hd_seni.htm (October 2004)

"Georges Seurat." Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2015. Web. 17 Mar. 2015. English. 18
March 2015