Georges Seurat (1859-1891)

Nationality:
French

Movement:
Post-Impressionism

Education:
École des Beaux-Arts

Life/Lifestyle:
Georges Seurat was born to a relatively wealthy family in Paris. He began his artistic training at the municipal school and eventually studied under one of Ingres's pupils, Henri Lehmann. He served in the army at Brest for on year, and upon his return to Paris in 1880, he began a series of sketches in conte crayon, which foreshadows the technique in his later paintings. He died in 1891 at the age of 31.

Style/Significance:
Seurat is known as the master of pointillism, which is the technique of using dots of paint, straight out of the tube, unblended to create solid forms on a canvas. Pointillism brings out the human form through color in a way like nothing else. It has some of the characteristics as van Gogh's color, but the form itself, although simplified, is more representational of the subject.

Famous Pieces:
The Models
Sunday Afternoon on the Island of la Grande Jatte