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How did Neo-Impressionists use pointillism to represent the colours of nature?

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van de Velde, Adriaen: River Landscape in the Late Afternoon — Landscape painting *River Landscape in the Late Afternoon*, oil on canvas by Adriaen van de Velde, 1663; in a private collection.

Neo-Impressionists used pointillism to represent the colors of nature by applying small, systematic dots of pure pigment to the canvas. Rather than mixing colors on a palette, artists like Georges Seurat and Paul Signac placed these contrasting colors side by side.1234

This technique relied on optical science: when viewed from a distance, the individual dots blend together in the viewer's eye to create harmonious, luminous tones. By utilizing these optical formulas, Neo-Impressionists sought to capture the essence of nature's colors more effectively than the fleeting, sketchy brushwork of the Impressionists. While Impressionists focused on the transient effects of light, the Neo-Impressionists used this theoretical approach to transform their observations into a more structured, timeless representation of the natural world.324