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Pointillism (, ) is a technique of
painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...
in which small, distinct dots of color are applied in patterns to form an image.
Georges Seurat Georges Pierre Seurat ( , ; ; 2 December 1859 – 29 March 1891) was a French post-Impressionist artist. He devised the painting techniques known as chromoluminarism and pointillism and used conté crayon for drawings on paper with a rough ...
and Paul Signac developed the technique in 1886, branching from
Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...
. The term "Pointillism" was coined by
art critics Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...
in the late 1880s to ridicule the works of these artists, but is now used without its earlier pejorative connotation. The movement Seurat began with this technique is known as
Neo-impressionism Neo-Impressionism is a term coined by French art critic Félix Fénéon in 1886 to describe an art movement founded by Georges Seurat. Seurat's most renowned masterpiece, '' A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte'', marked the begin ...
. The Divisionists used a similar technique of patterns to form images, though with larger cube-like brushstrokes.


Technique

The technique relies on the ability of the eye and mind of the viewer to blend the color spots into a fuller range of tones. It is related to
Divisionism Divisionism, also called chromoluminarism, is the characteristic style in Neo-Impressionist painting defined by the separation of colors into individual dots or patches that interact optically..Homer, William I. ''Seurat and the Science of Pain ...
, a more technical variant of the method. Divisionism is concerned with
color theory Color theory, or more specifically traditional color theory, is a historical body of knowledge describing the behavior of colors, namely in color mixing, color contrast effects, color harmony, color schemes and color symbolism. Modern color th ...
, whereas pointillism is more focused on the specific style of brushwork used to apply the paint. Pointillism is a technique with few serious practitioners today and is notably seen in the works of
Seurat Georges Pierre Seurat ( , ; ; 2 December 1859 – 29 March 1891) was a French post-Impressionist artist. He devised the painting techniques known as chromoluminarism and pointillism and used conté crayon for drawings on paper with a rough ...
, Signac, and
Cross A cross is a religious symbol consisting of two Intersection (set theory), intersecting Line (geometry), lines, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of t ...
. From 1905 to 1907,
Robert Delaunay Robert Delaunay (; 12 April 1885 – 25 October 1941) was a French artist of the School of Paris movement; who, with his wife Sonia Delaunay and others, co-founded the Orphism (art), Orphism art movement, noted for its use of strong colours and g ...
and
Jean Metzinger Jean Dominique Antony Metzinger (; 24 June 1883 – 3 November 1956) was a major 20th-century French painter, theorist, writer, critic and poet, who along with Albert Gleizes wrote the first theoretical work on Cubism. His earliest works, from 1 ...
painted in a Divisionist style with large squares or 'cubes' of color: the size and direction of each gave a sense of rhythm to the painting, yet color varied independently of size and placement.Jean Metzinger, ca. 1907, quoted in Georges Desvallières, ''La Grande Revue'', vol. 124, 1907, as cited in Robert L. Herbert, 1968, Neo-Impressionism, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York This form of Divisionism was a significant step beyond the preoccupations of Signac and Cross. In 1906, the art critic Louis Chassevent recognized the difference and, as art historian Daniel Robbins pointed out, used the word "cube" which would later be taken up by Louis Vauxcelles to baptize
Cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement which began in Paris. It revolutionized painting and the visual arts, and sparked artistic innovations in music, ballet, literature, and architecture. Cubist subjects are analyzed, broke ...
. Chassevent writes: : M. Metzinger is a mosaicist like M. Signac but he brings more precision to the cutting of his cubes of color which appear to have been made mechanically ..Robert L. Herbert, 1968, ''Neo-Impressionism'', The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New YorkDaniel Robbins, 1964, ''Albert Gleizes 1881 – 1953, A Retrospective Exhibition'', Published by The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York, in collaboration with Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris, Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund
/ref>


Practice

The practice of Pointillism is in sharp contrast to the traditional methods of blending pigments on a palette. Pointillism is analogous to the four-color
CMYK The CMYK color model (also known as process color, or four color) is a subtractive color model, based on the CMY color model, used in color printing, and is also used to describe the printing process itself. The abbreviation ''CMYK'' refers ...
printing process used by some color printers and large presses that place dots of
cyan Cyan () is the color between blue and green on the visible spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a predominant wavelength between 500 and 520 nm, between the wavelengths of green and blue. In the subtractive color system, or CMYK c ...
,
magenta Magenta () is a purple-red color. On color wheels of the RGB color model, RGB (additive) and subtractive color, CMY (subtractive) color models, it is located precisely midway between blue and red. It is one of the four colors of ink used in colo ...
, yellow, and key (black). Televisions and computer monitors use a similar technique to represent image colors using red, green and blue (RGB) colors.Vivien Greene, ''Divisionism, Neo-Impressionism: Arcadia & Anarchy'', Guggenheim Museum Publications, 2024 , If red, blue, and green light (the additive primaries) are mixed, the result is something close to white light (see
Prism (optics) An optical prism is a transparent optical element with flat, polished surfaces that are designed to refract light. At least one surface must be angled—elements with two parallel surfaces are ''not'' prisms. The most familiar type of optic ...
). Painting is inherently subtractive, but Pointillist colors often seem brighter than typical mixed subtractive colors. This may be partly because subtractive mixing of the pigments is avoided, and because some of the white canvas may be showing between the applied dots. The painting technique used for Pointillist color mixing is at the expense of the traditional brushwork used to delineate
texture Texture may refer to: Science and technology * Image texture, the spatial arrangement of color or intensities in an image * Surface texture, the smoothness, roughness, or bumpiness of the surface of an object * Texture (roads), road surface c ...
. The majority of Pointillism is done in oil paint. Anything may be used in its place, but oils are preferred for their thickness and tendency not to run or bleed.


Music

Pointillism also refers to a style of 20th-century music composition. Different musical notes are made in seclusion, rather than in a linear sequence, giving a sound texture similar to the painting version of Pointillism. This type of music is also known as
punctualism Punctualism (commonly also called "pointillism" or "point music") is a style of musical composition prevalent in Europe between 1949 and 1955 "whose structures are predominantly effected from Musical note, tone to tone, without superordinate mus ...
or klangfarbenmelodie.


Notable artists

*
Georges Seurat Georges Pierre Seurat ( , ; ; 2 December 1859 – 29 March 1891) was a French post-Impressionist artist. He devised the painting techniques known as chromoluminarism and pointillism and used conté crayon for drawings on paper with a rough ...
* Charles Angrand *
Chuck Close Charles Thomas Close (July 5, 1940 – August 19, 2021) was an American painter, visual artist, and photographer who made massive-scale photorealism, photorealist and abstract portraits of himself and others. Close also created photo portraits ...
*
Henri-Edmond Cross Henri-Edmond Cross (; 20 May 1856 – 16 May 1910), born Henri-Edmond-Joseph Delacroix (), was a French painter and printmaker. He is most acclaimed as a master of Neo-Impressionism and he played an important role in shaping the second phase ...
* Henri Delavallée * Albert Dubois-Pillet *
Louis Fabien Fabien Louis Pouilloux (18 January 1924 – 1 August 2016), better known by the pseudonym of Louis Fabien, was a French painter. Early life, family and education Fabien was born in L'Isle-Jourdain in the French département of Vienne in Januar ...
(
pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...
) * Georges Lemmen * Maximilien Luce *
Jean Metzinger Jean Dominique Antony Metzinger (; 24 June 1883 – 3 November 1956) was a major 20th-century French painter, theorist, writer, critic and poet, who along with Albert Gleizes wrote the first theoretical work on Cubism. His earliest works, from 1 ...
*
Camille Pissarro Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro ( ; ; 10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but then in the Danish West Indies). ...
* John Roy * Paul Signac *
Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artworks ...
*
Théo van Rysselberghe Théophile "Théo" van Rysselberghe (23 November 1862 – 13 December 1926) was a Belgian Neo-impressionism, neo-impressionist Painting, painter, who played a pivotal role in the European art scene at the turn of the twentieth century. Bi ...
* Hippolyte Petitjean *
Jan Toorop Johannes Theodorus "Jan" TooropJan Toorop
Netherlands Institute for Art History, 2014. Retrieved on 18 February 201 ...
*
Alfred William Finch Alfred William (Willy) Finch (1854 –1930) was a Ceramics (art), ceramist and Painting, painter in the Pointillism, pointillist and Neo-Impressionism, Neo-Impressionist style. Born in Brussels to British parents, he spent most of his creati ...
* Gale D. Jones


Notable paintings

* '' A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte'' by
Georges Seurat Georges Pierre Seurat ( , ; ; 2 December 1859 – 29 March 1891) was a French post-Impressionist artist. He devised the painting techniques known as chromoluminarism and pointillism and used conté crayon for drawings on paper with a rough ...
* '' Bathers at Asnières'' by
Georges Seurat Georges Pierre Seurat ( , ; ; 2 December 1859 – 29 March 1891) was a French post-Impressionist artist. He devised the painting techniques known as chromoluminarism and pointillism and used conté crayon for drawings on paper with a rough ...
* ''The Windmills at Overschie'' by Paul Signac * ''Banks of Seine'' by
Georges Seurat Georges Pierre Seurat ( , ; ; 2 December 1859 – 29 March 1891) was a French post-Impressionist artist. He devised the painting techniques known as chromoluminarism and pointillism and used conté crayon for drawings on paper with a rough ...
* ''A Coastal Scene'' by
Théo van Rysselberghe Théophile "Théo" van Rysselberghe (23 November 1862 – 13 December 1926) was a Belgian Neo-impressionism, neo-impressionist Painting, painter, who played a pivotal role in the European art scene at the turn of the twentieth century. Bi ...
* ''Family in the Orchard'' by
Théo van Rysselberghe Théophile "Théo" van Rysselberghe (23 November 1862 – 13 December 1926) was a Belgian Neo-impressionism, neo-impressionist Painting, painter, who played a pivotal role in the European art scene at the turn of the twentieth century. Bi ...
* ''Countryside at Noon'' by
Théo van Rysselberghe Théophile "Théo" van Rysselberghe (23 November 1862 – 13 December 1926) was a Belgian Neo-impressionism, neo-impressionist Painting, painter, who played a pivotal role in the European art scene at the turn of the twentieth century. Bi ...
* ''Afternoon at Pardigon'' by
Henri-Edmond Cross Henri-Edmond Cross (; 20 May 1856 – 16 May 1910), born Henri-Edmond-Joseph Delacroix (), was a French painter and printmaker. He is most acclaimed as a master of Neo-Impressionism and he played an important role in shaping the second phase ...
* ''Rio San Trovaso, Venice'' by
Henri-Edmond Cross Henri-Edmond Cross (; 20 May 1856 – 16 May 1910), born Henri-Edmond-Joseph Delacroix (), was a French painter and printmaker. He is most acclaimed as a master of Neo-Impressionism and he played an important role in shaping the second phase ...
* ''The Seine in front of the Trocadero'' by
Henri-Edmond Cross Henri-Edmond Cross (; 20 May 1856 – 16 May 1910), born Henri-Edmond-Joseph Delacroix (), was a French painter and printmaker. He is most acclaimed as a master of Neo-Impressionism and he played an important role in shaping the second phase ...
* ''The Pine Tree at St. Tropez'' by Paul Signac * '' Opus 217. Against the Enamel of a Background Rhythmic with Beats and Angles, Tones, and Tints, Portrait of M. Félix Fénéon in 1890'' by Paul Signac * ''The Yellow Sail, Venice'' by Paul Signac * ''Notre Dame Cathedral'' by Maximilien Luce * ''Le Pont De Pierre, Rouen'' by Charles Angrand * ''The Beach at Heist'' by Georges Lemmen * ''Aline Marechal'' by Georges Lemmen * ''Vase of Flowers'' by Georges Lemmen * '' Two Nudes in an Exotic Landscape'' by
Jean Metzinger Jean Dominique Antony Metzinger (; 24 June 1883 – 3 November 1956) was a major 20th-century French painter, theorist, writer, critic and poet, who along with Albert Gleizes wrote the first theoretical work on Cubism. His earliest works, from 1 ...


Gallery

File:Baigneurs a Asnieres.jpg,
Georges Seurat Georges Pierre Seurat ( , ; ; 2 December 1859 – 29 March 1891) was a French post-Impressionist artist. He devised the painting techniques known as chromoluminarism and pointillism and used conté crayon for drawings on paper with a rough ...
, 1884, '' Bathers at Asnières'', oil on canvas, 201 × 301 cm,
National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...
, London File:Georges Seurat - A Sunday on La Grande Jatte -- 1884 - Google Art Project.jpg,
Georges Seurat Georges Pierre Seurat ( , ; ; 2 December 1859 – 29 March 1891) was a French post-Impressionist artist. He devised the painting techniques known as chromoluminarism and pointillism and used conté crayon for drawings on paper with a rough ...
, 1884–1886, '' A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte'', oil on canvas, 207.6 x 308 cm,
Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...
File:Rijsselberghe, Voiliers.jpg,
Théo van Rysselberghe Théophile "Théo" van Rysselberghe (23 November 1862 – 13 December 1926) was a Belgian Neo-impressionism, neo-impressionist Painting, painter, who played a pivotal role in the European art scene at the turn of the twentieth century. Bi ...
, 1887, '' Sailboats and Estuary'', oil on canvas, 50.2 x 61 cm,
Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) () is a museum in Paris, France, on the Rive Gauche, Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts railway station built from 1898 to 1900. The museum holds mai ...
File:Apple Harvest by Camille Pissarro.jpg,
Camille Pissarro Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro ( ; ; 10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but then in the Danish West Indies). ...
, 1888, ''La Récolte des pommes'', oil on canvas, 61 x 74 cm, Dallas Museum of Art File:1889 Toorop Brug in Londen anagoria.JPG,
Jan Toorop Johannes Theodorus "Jan" TooropJan Toorop
Netherlands Institute for Art History, 2014. Retrieved on 18 February 201 ...
, 1889, ''Bridge in London'', Kröller-Müller Museum File:Young Woman Powdering Herself Georges Seurat.jpg,
Georges Seurat Georges Pierre Seurat ( , ; ; 2 December 1859 – 29 March 1891) was a French post-Impressionist artist. He devised the painting techniques known as chromoluminarism and pointillism and used conté crayon for drawings on paper with a rough ...
, c.1889-90 '' Young Woman Powdering Herself'',
Courtauld Gallery The Courtauld Gallery () is an art museum in Somerset House, on the Strand, London, Strand in central London. It houses the collection of the Samuel Courtauld Trust and operates as an integral part of the Courtauld Institute of Art. The Court ...
File:Lemmen2.jpg, Georges Lemmen, c.1891-92, ''The Beach at Heist'',
Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) () is a museum in Paris, France, on the Rive Gauche, Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts railway station built from 1898 to 1900. The museum holds mai ...
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
File:Theo Van Rysselberghe portrait-of-irma-sethe-1894.jpg,
Théo van Rysselberghe Théophile "Théo" van Rysselberghe (23 November 1862 – 13 December 1926) was a Belgian Neo-impressionism, neo-impressionist Painting, painter, who played a pivotal role in the European art scene at the turn of the twentieth century. Bi ...
, 1894, '' Portrait of Irma Sèthe'' File:Van Rysselberghe femme et enfant.jpg,
Théo van Rysselberghe Théophile "Théo" van Rysselberghe (23 November 1862 – 13 December 1926) was a Belgian Neo-impressionism, neo-impressionist Painting, painter, who played a pivotal role in the European art scene at the turn of the twentieth century. Bi ...
, 1899, ''His wife Maria and daughter Elisabeth'' File:Paul Signac - L'Hirondelle Steamer on the Seine.JPG, Paul Signac, 1901, ''L'Hirondelle Steamer on the Seine'', oil on canvas,
National Gallery in Prague The National Gallery Prague (, NGP), formerly the National Gallery in Prague (), is a state-owned art gallery in Prague, which manages the largest collection of art in the Czech Republic and presents masterpieces of Czech and international fine a ...
File:Henri Edmond Cross - Regatta in Venice - Google Art Project.jpg,
Henri-Edmond Cross Henri-Edmond Cross (; 20 May 1856 – 16 May 1910), born Henri-Edmond-Joseph Delacroix (), was a French painter and printmaker. He is most acclaimed as a master of Neo-Impressionism and he played an important role in shaping the second phase ...
, 1903-04, ''Regatta in Venice'', oil on canvas, 73.7 x 92.7 cm,
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. The permanent collection of the museum spans more than 5,000 years of history with nearly 80,000 works from six continents. Follo ...
File:Jean Metzinger, c.1906, Femme au Chapeau (Woman with a Hat), oil on canvas, 44.8 x 36.8 cm, Korban Art Foundation..jpg,
Jean Metzinger Jean Dominique Antony Metzinger (; 24 June 1883 – 3 November 1956) was a major 20th-century French painter, theorist, writer, critic and poet, who along with Albert Gleizes wrote the first theoretical work on Cubism. His earliest works, from 1 ...
, c.1906, '' Femme au Chapeau (Woman with a Hat)'', oil on canvas, 44.8 x 36.8 cm, Korban Art Foundation File:Robert Delaunay, 1906, Portrait de Metzinger, oil on canvas, 55 x 43 cm, DSC08255.jpg,
Robert Delaunay Robert Delaunay (; 12 April 1885 – 25 October 1941) was a French artist of the School of Paris movement; who, with his wife Sonia Delaunay and others, co-founded the Orphism (art), Orphism art movement, noted for its use of strong colours and g ...
, 1906, ''Portrait de Metzinger'', oil on canvas, 55 x 43 cm File:Hippolyte Petitjean - Femmes au bain.jpg, Hippolyte Petitjean, 1919, ''Femmes au bain'', oil on canvas, 61.1 X 46 cm, private collection


See also

* Contemporary Indigenous Australian art, the most well-known style of which is known as "dot painting" *
Halftone Halftone is the reprographic technique that simulates continuous tone, continuous-tone imagery through the use of dots, varying either in size or in spacing, thus generating a gradient-like effect.Campbell, Alastair. ''The Designer's Lexicon''. ...
* '' Klangfarbenmelodie'' * Micromontage, similar technique in music * Pixel art *
Stipple engraving Stipple engraving is a technique used to create tone in an Intaglio (printmaking), intaglio print by distributing a pattern of dots of various sizes and densities across the image. The pattern is created on the printing plate either in engraving ...


References


External links


Georges Seurat, 1859–1891
a fully digitized exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries
''Signac, 1863–1935''
a fully digitized exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries *Exhibition catalogue,
Dot Dot Dot ... Pointilism and Beyond 1885 - 2018
', Jill Newhouse Gallery, 2 November - 10 December 2021 {{Post-Impressionism Artistic techniques Painting techniques Post-Impressionism ...