MEDIA INFORMATION

 
 
 
COLLECTION NAME:
The AMICA Library
Record
AMICA ID:
MIA_.55.38
AMICA Library Year:
1998
Object Type:
Paintings
Creator Name:
Seurat, Georges
Creator Nationality:
European; French
Creator Role:
painter
Creator Dates/Places:
1859 - 1891
Gender:
M
Creator Name-CRT:
Georges Seurat
Title:
Port-en-Bessin
View:
Front
Creation Date:
1888
Creation Start Date:
1888
Creation End Date:
1888
Materials and Techniques:
oil on canvas
Dimensions:
H.25-1/2 x W.32-1/2 in.
Component Measured:
overall
Measurement Unit:
in
AMICA Contributor:
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Owner Location:
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
ID Number:
55.38
Credit Line:
The William Hood Dunwoody Fund
Inscriptions:
SIGNATURE
Rights:
Context:

In the summer of 1888, Georges Seurat worked in Port-en-Bessin, a small fishing village in Normandy. He painted six views of the seaport and its surrounding countryside. His intention was "to translate as exactly as possible the luminosity of the open air, with all its nuances."

Although Seurat shared the Impressionists' goal of translating nature's light and color, he also wished to make Impressionism more precise. He wanted to replace its spontaneous, improvisational qualities with a more systematic, objective approach that could reflect the essential structures of a landscape, not just its transitory effects.

To this end, Seurat developed an unusual new technique, variously called pointillism, divisionism, or Neo-Impressionism. He juxtaposed small dots of pigment according to his interpretation of scientific theories of color and optics. His followers, like Paul Signac, continued the pointillist style after Seurat's early death from pneumonia.

Related Image Identifier Link:
MIA_.132c.tif

Port-en-Bessin

Port-en-Bessin