GEORGE SEURAT
Pointillism
Art Smart
WHAT IS POINTILLISM?
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Pointillism describes the application of paint in dots or
small dabs of color
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The idea behind pointillism is to not physically mix colors
– instead you place specific colors next to each other –
called divisionism
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When two colors are right next to each other, your eye
mixes them in a process called, "optical mixing"
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Optical mixing rather than physical mixing can create a
brighter picture
HOW ARE POINTILLISM & GEOMETRY
RELATED?
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Points are building blocks of geometry.
A point is “that which has no length, width, or height.”
We also remember that a point is represented with (x,y), where x is the
horizontal and y is the vertical; and, that in maps, a point represents a location
Points are very important especially for painters who use the technique called
pointillism.
Pixels
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They are small dots on computer screens and other digital devices such as
televisions, cellular phones, and cameras that make up the texts, photos, and
videos we see.
Finding the number of pixels on a screen is just like finding the area of a
rectangle; that is, multiplying the length and the width.
That means that a computer screen that has dimensions 1024 by 768 pixels
has a resolution of 788,736 pixels.
 The more number of pixels, the better the graphics.
Why?
COLOR

Color is a visual effect resulting from the human
eye’s ability to distinguish different wavelengths
of the light it reflects.
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Objects that REFLECT wavelengths appear WHITE
Objects that ABSORB wavelengths appear BLACK
For example: a green object reflects green & absorbs
all other wavelengths
All subjects were
divided into:
 Primary colors
 Red
 Yellow
 Blue

Complimentary colors
 Red/Green
 Yellow/Violet
 Blue/Orange
WHO CREATED POINTILLISM?
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Invented by George Seurat (1859-1891 – died at age 31)
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Born and lived in France
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Due to his slow, meticulous method of painting, Seurat
painted less than ten major works in his career – though
he made hundreds of sketches and practice drawings
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He was known for amazing devotion and concentration
and worked on each painting for years
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Seurat is known as a scientific painter because he
created specific rules of how to use colors (based on
scientific research) and composition
SEURAT’S MOST FAMOUS PAINTING
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Seurat's famous "A Sunday in
the Park on the Island of La
Grande Jatte" (also known as
"Sunday in the Park") covered a
wall (81 inches by 120 inches),
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It took him two years to
complete.
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The dots in a pointillist painting
can be as small as 1/16 of an
inch in diameter.
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Based on these measurements,
"Sunday in the Park" has
approximately 3,456,000 dots!
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George Seurat
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT
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Should the dots be close together and bunched
up, or far apart?
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If we wanted to make something in our painting
look darker, what should we do?
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What common items in our homes use the optical
mixing of dots of color?
LESSON
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Begin with larger paper
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Tape the edges of the paper to table with tape
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Sketch a landscape with a pencil
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Dip the Q-tip into the paint
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Pressing down lightly will make a small dot, more pressure
will create a larger one
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Try to fill up as much of the paper as possible with color
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Remove the tape when the painting is dry
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Begin small paper painting using one part of your larger
painting.