How Did George Seurat Contribute To Art

One of the most famous paintings in art history was created by the known artist George Pierre Seurat; his scientific beliefs’ made him look at art as another experiment. As years passed he became more impressed with colors, figures, textures and art elements but his innovations would be highly influential, shaping the work of artists as diverse as Vincent Van Gogh and the Italian painters.
He also pursued the discovery that complementary colors can optically mix to yield far more vivid tones of color that can be achieved by mixing paint. He created other ambitious paintings but none can compare to it, because he used a completely different technique called “divisionism” but later known as “pointillism” which emphasizes on painting small dots of pure color to form an image on canvas.
George Seurat never thought that his work would be recognized, but his ambition was to make modern people appreciate a timeless image through a painting. His idea became a debate to artists that thought it was a way to express themselves and the modern society through a painting. He started his project in May of 1884 and intended it to be exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants in 1885 but the exhibition got cancelled.
Years later, he finally had the chance to present his painting; he was only 26 years old when he showed “A Sunday afternoon on the Island
of La Grande Jatte” in 1886. However, after the painting was published for the entire world to see, more people became interested in his work that they created an art movement called “neo-impressionism”.
When his exhibition got cancelled he tried to make his painting better by altering shapes of figures, adding scalloped and curved outlines to create rhythms and patterns throughout the painting.
He spent years on the same painting, by making different sizes and focusing on small details to make harmonies of color. Seurat also used complementary colors to make it more appealing to his audience. Finally, Seurat surrounded the painting with a border of a mixture of dots, and then framed it in white to get more color effect. One interesting thing to look is that Seurat used a new pigment called zinc yellow to show bright
highlights.
The purpose of his painting was to show the other side of the wealthy life in the 19th century, in that time period society was being judged from every aspect. George Seurat wanted to convey a story by showing emotions in their faces, surroundings, movements and light contrast. He thought that it will be more impressive to paint how normal their lives are when they don’t feel pressure to put on a fake mask every day.
When they found out he was dead, his work became more appreciated. They decided to create songs and a book for an upcoming musical that was dedicated and inspired to his majestic painting. The songs and lyrics were composed by Stephen Sondheim and the book by James Lapine. In July 1983 the show opened off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons, starring Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters and it ran for 25 performances.
The first show was still in progress because they still needed to be more organized with each performance. However, the composer Stephen Sondheim imagined Seurat making the painting. The director of the musical says Sondheim did with his music what Seurat did with Impressionism: "He took something that was wonderful and paid homage to it, and he made it into something else."
This musical is a complete work of fiction that centers on the life of the painter. It doesn’t really talk about the painter, or what the painting is trying to convey. It's about art. However, it’s also about the search for a deeper significance and meaning to our lives. It's about connecting with the world around you. It's about living life for all it is worth, with all you have got, and not settling for second-best. It is about standing back from the dots that make up our lives and looking how it all fits together, allowing the perspective fall in place.