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Pointillism
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A group of people, some seated on a bench and others standing, view Georges Seurat's painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte at the Art Institute of Chicago.
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A group of people, some seated on a bench and others standing, view Georges Seurat's painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Georges Seurat: A Sunday on La Grande Jatte—1884 Museum patrons looking at A Sunday on La Grande Jatte—1884, oil on canvas by Georges Seurat, 1884/86; at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Pointillism

art
Also known as: chromo-luminarism
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•History

Pointillism, in painting, the practice of applying small strokes or dots of color to a surface so that from a distance they visually blend together. The technique is associated with its inventor, Georges Seurat, in such works as A Sunday on La Grande Jatte—1884 (1884/86) and Bathers at Asnières (1884). He and his student, Paul Signac, both espoused Neo-Impressionism, a movement that flourished from the late 1880s to the first decade of the 20th century.

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