Pointillism is a form of painting in which small dots of color are grouped to create a sense of vibrancy, tending to interact and fuse in the spectator 's eye (Roskill). It is very similar to Divisionism, but where Divisionism is concerned with color theory, Pointillism is more focused on the specific style of brushwork used to apply the paint. Originally developed by Neo-Impressionist Georges Seurat, the movement is also associated with Paul Signac and Henri-Edmond Cross (Artists).
When viewed from a distance, the points or dots cannot be distinguished, and blend optically into each other. This means that with the same set of primaries, pointillists generate a different range of colors when compared to artists using traditional colors or color-mixing techniques. The result is sometimes described as brighter or purer since the eye does the mixing and not the brush. An explanation for this could be sought in the subtractive and additive theories of color (Pointillism).
Usually when colors are produced by pigments being mixed physically, the subtractive color theory is at work. Here the mixing of pigments of the primary colours produces less light; so if we mix red, blue and yellow pigments(subtractive primaries), we get a colour close to black. However when
Cited: "Artists by Movement: Pointillism." Artcyclopedia: The Fine Art Search Engine. http://www.artcyclopedia.com/history/pointillism.html "George Seurat." Wikipedia. 13 Feb 2005. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Seurat "Impressionism." Huntfor.com. 1999 – 2005. http://www.huntfor.com/arthistory/c19th/impressionism.htm "Pointillism." Wikipedia. 25 Jan 2005. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointillism Roskill, Mark. "Georges Pierre Seurat." DiscoverFrance.net. 1997-2005. http://www.discoverfrance.net/France/Art/Seurat/Seurat.shtml