Creator story
Surprising fact
Seurat spent about two years and made dozens of studies for La Grande Jatte — then died of illness at just 31.
Source: Wikipedia / WikimediaPost-Impressionism
Georges Seurat
Georges Seurat (1859–1891) invented Pointillism, building luminous images from countless tiny dots of pure colour. His monumental A Sunday on La Grande Jatte is the manifesto of this scientific approach to painting.
Seurat brought optical science into art; his methodical dot technique influenced everyone from the Fauves to modern design.
- Invented Pointillism, composing pictures from tiny dots that blend in the eye.
- Based his method on contemporary theories of colour and optics.
- Died at only 31, leaving a small but revolutionary body of work.
Key works
A key work by Georges Seurat
These works make it easiest to see how the artist changed form, content, and the very way art could exist in culture.
1884
A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte
A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte was painted from 1884 to 1886 and is Georges Seurat's most famous work. It is recognised as a leading example of pointillist technique and as a founding work of the neo-impressionist movement.