Art Masterpiece: La Grande Jatte, 1884-1886 by Georges Seurat

Keywords: Pointillism, Neoimpressionism Grade: 3rd Grade Month: February Activity: Painting with Pointillism

Meet the Artist:  Born in France in 1859 to a family that supported his desire to be an artist. He received art schooling in Paris.  Initially rejected by the impressionist artists of the day, he decided to associate with other artists and created a new style that was the “new” impressionism. Impressionists painted in a manner that the painting was the image you see if you just took a quick look at it. Neo Impressionists painted so that it was more orderly, more scientific.  Eventually, his artwork was titled pointillism (although he never cared for this title). In pointillism, the artist uses dots or dashes to complete a picture. The paintings tend to look grainy, up close one would only see “points” or small dashes, from farther away, a picture emerges.  His paintings were very large and he painted only a handful of complete paintings in his lifetime and 60 smaller paintings. He did sketch many others, though. This was in part due to his neoimpressionism. He sought to make every inch of the canvas perfect. He sometimes took years to finish a painting.  He died at an early age in 1891 from what many believed to be diphtheria, a disease of the respiratory system that no longer affects us due to vaccinations.

Color Theory: COOL colors: Green, Blue, Purple WARM colors: Red, Yellow, Orange

Colors affect the mood or feeling of the subject. Artists will use warm and cool colors together to create depth or dimension in their artwork. Cool colors tend to recede, Warm colors seem to come forward.

Pointilllism. A method of painting in which white ground is covered with tiny dots of color. When viewed at a distance, the colors blend together to produce a luminous effect. The viewer’s eyes do the mixing.

Possible Questions: o What would you name this painting? o What colors do you see? Are they cool colors or warm colors? o Is it realistic or is it dreamy, or both? o How does it look when you are right in front of it, and when sitting at your desk? ( colors blend at a distance) o How did Seurat put the paint on the canvas? (tiny dots) o Do you think he did this painting quickly? (often over a year) o What is going on in the painting? o This painting was done over 100 years ago. How can you tell? (the way people are dressed) o Do the people look like they are enjoying themselves? o Who else is in the Background? o Who is in the Foreground? Activity: Painting Using Pointillism

Materials needed: white 5 X 7 index cards, tempera paints, Q-tips, plates for the paint, newspaper to cover desks, paper towels

Process: 1. Use the back (blank) side of the index card. 2. Using the pencils, lightly sketch a simple scene or object that will be filled in with dots. Brainstorming can be helpful, write the ideas on the board. Rainbows, cars, flowers, sunrises, etc. 3. Using the Q-tips dipped lightly into the paint on the plates, fill in the spaces. Remind them that they want to see the individual dots up close, but from far away, they should blend together. So, have them get up periodically and look at their artwork from a few feet away. 4. Encourage them to mix colors to create the right color on the paper plates. 5. See how much of the paper can get filled with closely filled dots. Have them name and sign their masterpiece.