The Politics of Pointillism
French painter Georges-Pierre Seurat used Pointillism and Divisionism to point out the divisions in society and create the first Modernist Masterpieces
Georges-Pierre Seurat was a Neo-Impressionist painter, who trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris where he was taught by a disciple of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, who in turn had been taught by Eugène Delacroix. After taking a year out from his studies for military service, Seurat exhibited his drawing Aman-Jean at the official Salon in 1883 and was heralded as the bright new star of French art.
Georges-Pierre Seurat: Bathers at Asnières (1884)
The following year, his painting Bathers at Asnières caused controversy at the Salon and was rejected. This spurred Seurat and several of his colleagues to found the Société des Artistes Indépendants. This Society of Independent Artists staged their own exhibitions and these art shows eventually became more popular and relevant than those of the official Salon because they increasingly broke with tradition and used art for different purposes.
Often referred to as “the first Modernist masterpiece”, this is a large oil on canvas (just over 10 feet across) that began the shake-up of art that grew into Modernism. The size of…
