Happy Birthday, Georges Seurat!

Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash

Do you know the work of Saurat? He was a neo-impressionist painter and devised pontillism.

Pontillism is a technique that uses small dots to make a picture. It’s fun to stand back and see the entire work and then go up close (don’t touch the original work) to see all the dots. I would post a photo but they’re all copyrighted.

Seurat also created a theory that utilized chromoluminarism, also called divisionism. The dots work together to build an optic illusion.

So, what’s the difference between pontillism and divisionism? Pontillism refers to the actual technique of using dots to build an image. Divisionism refers to the separation of color. Pontillism emerged from divisionism.

Still confused? I am not an expert but I see it this way: divisionism is a dog and pontillism is the breed. If I’m wrong, please feel free to let me know in the comments.

If you want to see some of Seurat’s work, I recommend that you use your favorite search engine to see some of his works, or, even better, go to a museum that has some of his originals hung on the walls and take a look.

Have a good day! Sonja