Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte,
1884-1886 by Georges Seurat
Pronounced: Sir-Rah
Keywords: Color, Landscape, Line, Primary Colors,
Secondary Colors, Pointillism, Neoimpressionism
Activity:
Pointillism Painting
Keywords Defined:
• Color - an element of art. The hue, value and intensity of an object. The primary colors
are red, blue and yellow: every color except white can be created from various blending
of these three colors.
• Landscape - a painting or drawing showing a scene from nature, often including
mountains, trees, rivers, fields and other outdoor scenery
• Line – an element of art; a continuous path of a point as it moves across a surface. A
line can vary in length , width, direction, curvature of color.
• Primary Colors – the hues red, yellow and blue. The primary colors cannot be produced
by mixing any other colors. All other colors are made from these colors.
• Secondary Colors – colors that are mixed from two of the primary colors. They are:
orange, green and purple.
Overview of the Impressionism Art Movement:
Impressionism was a style of painting that became popular over 100 years ago mainly in
France. Up to this point in the art world, artists painted people and scenery in a realistic
manner. A famous 1872 painting by Claude Monet named “Impression: Sunrise” was the
inspiration for the name given to this new form of painting: “Impressionism” (See painting
below) by an art critic. Originally the term was meant as an insult, but Monet embraced the
name. The art institutes of the day thought that the paintings looked unfinished, or
childlike.
Characteristics of Impressionist paintings include: visible brush strokes, open composition,
light depicting the effects of the passage of time, ordinary subject matter, movement,
and unusual visual angles. As a technique, impressionists used dabs of paint (often straight
out of a paint tube) to recreate the impression they saw of the light and the effects the
light had on color. Due to this, most Impressionistic artists painted in the “plein-air”,
French for open air.
The important concept for 4th grade lessons is the Impressionism movement was short
lived but inspired other artists from all over, including America, to begin using this new
technique. Each of the artists throughout the lessons brought something new and a little
different to advance the Impressionistic years. (i.e. Seurat with Neo-Impressionism and
Toulouse-Latrec with Post-Impressionism). The emphasis was capturing the moment, the
impression as seen by a quick glance. Additionally, the Impressionist movement was a
significant influence on future art techniques such as Fauvism (i.e. Matisse), Cubism
(Picasso), Expressionism (an art style that focuses on feelings) to abstract art (a style
that allows shapes and colors alone to tell the story the painter wants told).
Meet the Artist:
• Born in France in 1859 to a family that supported his desire to be an artist. He
received art training in Paris at the prestigious Ecole des Beaux Art.
• Initially rejected by the Impressionist artists of the day, he decided to associate with
other artists and color theorists to develop a new style that became known as “new” or
“neo” impressionism. The Impressionists such as Monet, Degas, Renoir 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 and more scientific with
precise strokes of contrasting colors that were placed closely together and be closer
to what we see and experience in reality.
• 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
clear picture emerges.
• His paintings were very large and he created only seven complete paintings in his short
lifetime and 60 smaller paintings. The original painting of La Grande Jatte measures
6’9” high x 10’ in length. He did sketch many others, though.
• Seurat is the classic example of an artist as a scientist as he calculated the use of
contrasting or complementary colors next to each other to create harmony in the
painting. He sought to make every inch of the canvas perfect. His paintings took up to
two years to complete due to his scientific application of color and using tiny
brushstrokes.
• 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.
Possible Questions:
• What is the setting of this painting?
• What time of day is it? How can you tell?
• What would you name this painting?
• What colors do you see? Are they cool colors or warm colors?
• Is it realistic or is it dreamy, or both?
• How does it look when you are right in front of it, and when sitting at your desk?
• What is going on in the painting?
Discussion on Color Theory: Use the color wheel and write the color information written
below on the board.
o Primary colors: Red, Yellow and Blue. All other colors can be made from mixing these
three colors.
o Secondary colors: Equal amounts of two primary colors.
Yellow + Red = Orange, Blue + Yellow = Green
Red + Blue = Purple.
o Complimentary colors: Colors directly opposite each other on the color wheel. Show
color wheel.
red and green --- blue and orange --- violet and yellow
o Neutral colors: Not associated with a color-browns, blacks, grays and whites- They
can be used to change value of a color. Example: Red + white = pink
How do colors make you feel? Warm colors are: red, orange, yellow-artist use warm
colors to demonstrate happiness and attract the eye. Red is the hottest. Cool colors:
blue, green and violet are used to show moodiness, sadness,
Activity: Pointillism Painting
Supplies:
Tempera Paints in Primary colors (Red, Blue, Yellow)
q-tips® (3-4 per student)
drawing paper
Paint dishes or egg cartons
Watercups
Papertowels
Procedure:
1. Begin by discussing Georges Seurat with students. Specifically, his use of dots to
make paintings and his use of primary colors placed next to each other instead of
mixing colors. (stress that they should try to place dots NEXT TO EACHOTHER –
when they put too many on top of eachother, the picture gets a “Muddy”
appearance!)
2. Distribute drawing paper, paints and q-tips around the classroom
3. Instruct students to sketch basic landscape with a pencil - LIGHTLY.
4. When ready, have students write names on back and begin painting – be sure they
keep q-tips separate with paints (1 q-tip for each color).
5. Pressing down lightly will make a small dot, more pressure will create a larger one.
6. Have the students try to fill up as much of the paper as possible with color.
7. Apply Parent Letter to back of finished pieces & Display as desired by teacher.
8. Sign off of “Lesson Completed” section of binder.
9. Have fun!
Photograph of the George Seurat and other works
Detail – Note the use of complementary colors next to each other.