All Things Seurat

Now that Venus is in Pisces effective today 2/25/21, bring on the creative, the mystical, the cosmic, the soul. Last month I took an online course on Seurat and it was great. I learned so much more about the man and his techniques, and a bit more about me in the process. I have been showing his work here many times, so today I am highlighting his crayon drawings, his late work , and a few extras in between.

Seurat Facts :

Seurat lived a very short time. He died at age 31 after a brief illness, perhaps pneumonia. 

He saw himself as a scientist and approached his art as a technician. Pointillism produced a visual effect in the brain that caused the small dots and brushstrokes to be transformed once observed. This reminds me of the quantum field that changes upon observation. Trust me this is all above my pay-grade but fascinating in any case.

He favored the interplay of complementary colors, a very dominant factor in this work.

He was born into an affluent family and did not struggle like many of his contemporaries.

Perhaps his privliged upbringing led to this fun fact: Seurat was championed by the art dealer Félix Fénéon, who befriended fellow anarchist artists. ” He became particularly close with Seurat, Signac, and Matisse and coined the term Neo-Impressionism to describe Seurat’s and Signac’s novel use of bright contrasting colors, and pointillism, a dot-by-dot technique, they used to build their landscapes, portraits, and, occasionally, visions of an anarchist utopia.”

The model in the painting Woman Powdering Herself was his mistress Madeleine. who eventually gave him two children. The portrait was considered controversial. 

Seurat was secretive in many ways and did not share pointillism freely. He did not want many to use the technique that he invented. However a few artists during his life and thereafter carried on his legacy.

During the class their was discussion about the various reactions to his works. His preference to show people in profile with little movement often left the viewer emotionally cold, devoid of emotion. I disagreed with this assessment. I have been mesmerized by Seurat since I  first noticed his work years ago. I find the play of color and light consuming and soothing. I recently concluded that many of his paintings are meditative in nature. I create art from a place of imprecision, focusing on my emotional release. I gather he and I were quite different and was surprised to learn that Seurat’s process was painstakingly laborious and methodical. The header image is called The Circus and was his last ambitious project, unfinished upon his death.

What will we leave unfinished when we shed our bodies and begin new adventures? 

images courtesy of wikiart.org, public domain