Georges Seurat quotes

Georges Seurat was a French post-Impressionist painter, recognized as the pioneer of the pointillism technique. His meticulous approach to color and composition distinguished his work from his contemporaries. He remains celebrated for masterpieces such as "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte." Here are 32 of his quotes:

Rood was in my possession the day after the appearance of Philippe Gille's book review, published by 'Le Figaro', 1881 (change of palette). I abandon earth colors from [18]82 to 1884. On Pissarro's advice I stop using emerald green (1885)

Georges Seurat

Signac, definitively won over and who had just modified the paintings 'The Milliner', [1885] and 'Appreteuse et garnisseuse Modes' [exhibited in May 1886], Rue de Caire, p. 174J, following my technique at the same time as I was finishing the 'Jatte'... You'll agree that there's a nuance here and that if I was unknown in [18]85 [ Félix Fénéon did not mention Seurat in his article as leader / initiator of Neo-Impressionism I nonetheless existed, I and my vision that you have described in an impersonal fashion so superbly, aside from one or two insignificant details.

Georges Seurat

Some say they see poetry in my paintings; I see only science.

Georges Seurat

Originality depends only on the character of the drawing and the vision peculiar to each artist.

Georges Seurat

In conclusion I am going to give you the aesthetic and technical note that concludes Mr. Christophe's piece and which originated with me; I am modifying it a little, not having been well understood by the printer.

Georges Seurat

Signac told me of his death this way: 'He [= Vincent van Gogh ] gave himself a bullet in the ribs; it passed through his body and lodged in his groin. He walked for two kilometers, losing all his blood, and went on to die in his inn.

Georges Seurat

The means of expression is the optical mixture of tones, of tints (of local color and the illuminating color: sun, oil lamp, gas, etc.), that is, of the lights and of their reactions (shadows) following the laws of contrast, of gradation, of irradiation.

Georges Seurat

Aesthetic: Art is Harmony. Harmony is the analogy of opposites, the analogy of similarities of tone, of tint, of line taking account of a dominant and under the influence of the lighting, in combinations that are gay calm or sad.

Georges Seurat

They [the visitors in his studio, praising his work] see poetry in what I have done. No, I apply my method and that is all there is to it.

Georges Seurat

The frame [is no longer as in the beginning version] is in a harmony opposed to those of the tones, tints, and lines of the [motif of the] picture.

Georges Seurat

I painted like that because I wanted to get through to something new - a kind of painting that was my own.

Georges Seurat

Gaiety of tone is the luminous dominant, of tint, the warm dominant, of line, lines above the horizontal Calmness of tone is the equality of dark and light; of tint, of warm and cool, and the horizontal for line. Sadness of tone is the dark dominant; of tint, the cool dominant, and of line, downward directions.

Georges Seurat

Opposites are: for tone, a more luminous/lighter one for a darker one. for tint, the complementaries, that is, a certain red opposed to its complementary, etc. Red - Green Orange - Blue Yellow - Violet for line, those making a right angle.

Georges Seurat

Allow me to point out an inaccuracy in your biography of Signac, or rather, in order to set aside all doubt, allow me to specify..

Georges Seurat

..the flag is green with a red spot in the center; above, the blue of the sky, the orange-tinted white of the walls, and the orange-grey of the clouds.

Georges Seurat

On Pissarro's advice I'm abandoning the emerald green..

Georges Seurat

The purity of the spectral element being the keystone of my.. ..searching for an optical formula on this basis ever, since I held a brush 1876 - 1884.. ..having read Charles Blanc in school and therefore knowing Chevreul's laws and Eugene Delacroix's precepts, having read the studies by the same Charles Blanc on the same painter [= Delacroix].

Georges Seurat

Knowing Corot's ideas on tone [copy of a private letter, October 28, 1875].. and Couture's precepts on the subtlety of tints (at the time of his exhibition), having been struck by the intuition of Monet and Pissarro.. .Rood having been brought to my attention in an article by w:Philippe Gille, Figaro 1881, 3.

Georges Seurat

Here are the titles of my large canvases: 'Bathing Place' (Asnieres) 2 meters / 3 meters, exh. Independants (group) May 15, 1884. New York studies for 'A Sunday on the Grande Jatte'. Independants (Society) December 1884 'A Sunday on the Grande Jatte'. 1884, 3 meters / 2 meters. Independants August 1886.. ..studies at 'the Grande Jatte' and at Honfleur at Grandchamp, Independants in 1887..

Georges Seurat

I have told him nothing [an art-journalist in Paris who wrote in 1887: 'Seurat sees his paternity of the theory Neo-Impressionism contested by misinformed critics and unscrupulous comrades'], but what I have always thought: the more of us [the Neo-Impressionists] there are, the less originality we will have, and the day when everyone this technique, it will no longer have any value and people will look for something new as is already happening.. .It is my right to think this and to say it, since I paint in this way [ Neo-Impressionistic ], only to find a new approach which is my own.

Georges Seurat

Great as was my wonderment [visiting the 8th Impressionist Exhibition, May/June 1886, at 1, rue Laffitte in Paris] it was tenfold increased on discovering that only six of these pictures were painted by the new man, Seurat, whose name was unknown to me; the other five were painted by my old friend Pissarro.. .The pictures were hung low, so I went down on my knees and examined the dotting in the pictures signed Seurat, and the dotting in those that were signed, Pissarro. After a strict examination I was able to detect some differences, and I began to recognize the well-known touch even through this most wild and most wonderful transformation. Yes, owing to a long and intimate acquaintance with Pissarro and his work, I could distinguish between him and Seurat, but to the ordinary visitor their pictures were identical.

Georges Seurat

The impressionist paintings of Manet, Cezanne and Monsieur Degas, express with exemplary sincerity the new sensations, the new world our eyes experience. Now here the successors to these artists [Seurat & Pissarro ] are trying to perfect the forms created by them. They found in the notes of Delacroix, in the scientific discoveries of Chevreul and Rood, the suggestion for a type of painting in which color impressions are ordered by the combining of little multi-colored brush strokes. But while they were attentive to such improvement of the means, they forgot the true end of art, the sincere and complete expression of vivid sensations. The works of these painters - Pissarro and Seurat are the most notorious - are interesting only as the exercises of highly mannered virtuosos. Their paintings are lifeless for the painters did not strive for sincerity, being too taken up with external formulas.

Georges Seurat