Pointillism is a distinct artistic style which takes its roots from Impressionism and is often classified among other Post-Impressionist styles. It originated in Paris, France during the 1880’s and remained a fairly small stylistic approach in Post-Impressionist painting. In Pointillism paintings, the artist is primarily concerned with creating tiny brush strokes with primary colors arranged in a pattern which visually produces the appearance of secondary colors to the viewer’s eye.
The object of Pointillism is to use small dot-like brush strokes to keep the colors of a painting separated. Pointillist artists, particularly Seurat, believed that keeping the tones of paint separate kept the shades and colors brighter without being unavoidably toned down by mixing. By deciding not to blend the small dots, spots, and brushstrokes, artists like Seurat were able to experiment with the developing ideas of color theory. Though ideas relating to color theory have grown far more complicated in the past few generations, it was the pointillist artists, along with other post-impressionists, who first began to question ideas about color in a more scientific manner than had ever been considered before.
Pointillist paintings are usually created using oil paints. Other types of paint bleed and spread more easily so the thickness of oil paints works well when applied in separated sections or dots. Though the Pointillist artist’s physical technique of painting differed greatly from the practices of their contemporaries (especially the Impressionists), their subject matter was often remarkably similar. One of the most famous Pointillist works from the late Nineteenth Century was painted by an artist named Seurat was called “Bathers at Asnières” and depicts an everyday setting which appears identical to the scenes being painted by Impressionist artists during the same time. Like the Impressionists, the Pointillists were often concerned with depicting scenes from every day life ranging from all class levels in society.
Three of the most well-known artists who worked in the Pointillist style are: Georges Seurat, Paul Signac, and Henri-Edmond Cross. Their works all required a great deal of patience and concentration considering the large amount of time necessary to paint in the manner they preferred. The Pointillist movement deserves recognition for the unique nature of their contributions to the Post-Impressionist tradition.
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