View source for Pointillism

{{Short description|Technique of painting with small, distinct dots}}
{{Main|Neo-Impressionism}}

[[File:Seurat-La Parade detail.jpg|thumb|upright|Detail from [[Georges Seurat|Seurat]]'s ''[[Parade de cirque]]'', 1889, showing the contrasting dots of paint which define Pointillism]]

'''Pointillism''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|w|æ̃|t|ᵻ|l|ɪ|z|əm}}, {{IPAc-en|also|US|ˈ|p|w|ɑː|n|-|,|_|ˈ|p|ɔɪ|n|-}})<ref>{{Cite dictionary |url=http://www.lexico.com/definition/pointillism |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220726164950/https://www.lexico.com/definition/pointillism |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 26, 2022 |title=pointillism |dictionary=[[Lexico]] UK English Dictionary |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]}}</ref> is a technique of [[painting]] in which small, distinct dots of color are applied in patterns to form an image.

[[Georges Seurat]] and [[Paul Signac]] developed the technique in 1886, branching from [[Impressionism]].  The term "Pointillism" was coined by [[art critics]] in the late 1880s to ridicule the works of these artists, but is now used without its earlier pejorative connotation.<ref name="ArtCyclopedia" /> The movement Seurat began with this technique is known as [[Neo-impressionism]]. The [[Divisionism|Divisionists]] used a similar technique of patterns to form images, though with larger cube-like brushstrokes.<ref>Ruhrberg, Karl. "Seurat and the Neo-Impressionists". ''Art of the 20th Century'', Vol. 2. Koln: Benedikt [[Taschen]] Verlag, 1998. {{ISBN|3-8228-4089-0}}.</ref>

== Technique ==
The technique relies on the ability of the eye and mind of the viewer to blend the color spots into a fuller range of tones. It is related to [[Divisionism]], a more technical variant of the method. Divisionism is concerned with [[color theory]], whereas pointillism is more focused on the specific style of brushwork used to apply the paint.<ref name=ArtCyclopedia>{{cite web|url=http://www.artcyclopedia.com/history/pointillism.html|title=Pointillism|website=www.artcyclopedia.com}}</ref> Pointillism is a technique with few serious practitioners today and is notably seen in the works of [[Georges Seurat|Seurat]], [[Paul Signac|Signac]], and [[Henri-Edmond Cross|Cross]].

From 1905 to 1907, [[Robert Delaunay]] and [[Jean Metzinger]] painted in a Divisionist style with large squares or 'cubes' of color: the size and direction of each gave a sense of rhythm to the painting, yet color varied independently of size and placement.<ref name="Jean Metzinger">Jean Metzinger, ca. 1907, quoted in Georges Desvallières, ''La Grande Revue'', vol. 124, 1907, as cited in Robert L. Herbert, 1968, Neo-Impressionism, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York</ref> This form of Divisionism was a significant step beyond the preoccupations of Signac and Cross. In 1906, the art critic Louis Chassevent recognized the difference and, as art historian [[Daniel Robbins (art historian)|Daniel Robbins]] pointed out, used the word "cube" which would later be taken up by [[Louis Vauxcelles]] to baptize [[Cubism]]. Chassevent writes: 
: M. Metzinger is a mosaicist like M. Signac but he brings more precision to the cutting of his cubes of color which appear to have been made mechanically [...].<ref name="Robert Herbert">Robert L. Herbert, 1968, ''Neo-Impressionism'', The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York</ref><ref>Louis Chassevent: ''Les Artistes indépendantes'', 1906</ref><ref>Louis Chassevent, ''22e Salon des Indépendants'', 1906, ''Quelques petits salons'', Paris, 1908, p. 32</ref><ref name="Daniel Robbins">[https://archive.org/stream/albertgleizes1881robb#page/n3/mode/2up Daniel Robbins, 1964, ''Albert Gleizes 1881 – 1953, A Retrospective Exhibition'', Published by The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York, in collaboration with Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris, Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund]</ref>

== Practice ==

The practice of Pointillism is in sharp contrast to the traditional methods of blending pigments on a [[Palette (painting)|palette]]. Pointillism is analogous to the four-color [[CMYK color model|CMYK]] printing process used by some color printers and large presses that place dots of [[cyan]], [[magenta]], yellow, and key (black). Televisions and computer monitors use a similar technique to represent image colors using [[RGB color model|red, green and blue]] (RGB) colors.<ref name="Greene">Vivien Greene, ''Divisionism, Neo-Impressionism: Arcadia & Anarchy'', Guggenheim Museum Publications, 2024
, {{ISBN|0-89207-357-8}}</ref>

If red, blue, and green light (the [[Primary color#handprintprimaries|additive primaries]]) are mixed, the result is something close to white light (see [[Prism (optics)]]). Painting is inherently [[Primary color#handprintprimaries|subtractive]], but Pointillist colors often seem brighter than typical mixed subtractive colors. This may be partly because subtractive mixing of the pigments is avoided, and because some of the white canvas may be showing between the applied dots.<ref name="Greene" />

The painting technique used for Pointillist color mixing is at the expense of the traditional brushwork used to delineate [[Texture (visual arts)|texture]].<ref name="Greene" />

The majority of Pointillism is done in oil paint. Anything may be used in its place, but oils are preferred for their thickness and tendency not to run or bleed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.si.umich.edu/chico/emerson/pntmat.html|title=Nathan, Solon. "Pointillism Materials." Web. 9 Feb 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091019090200/http://www.si.umich.edu/chico/emerson/pntmat.html|archive-date=2009-10-19}}</ref>

== Music ==

Pointillism also refers to a style of 20th-century music composition. Different musical notes are made in seclusion, rather than in a linear sequence, giving a sound texture similar to the painting version of Pointillism. This type of music is also known as [[punctualism]] or [[klangfarbenmelodie]].

In the 21st century, Australian composer [[Georges Lentz]]’s music, influenced by the subtle dot paintings of [[Kathleen Petyarre]] and by the starry night sky in the Australian Outback, has also, in some aspects, been described as pointillistic.<ref>{{cite web | title=The Music | url=https://www.cobarsoundchapel.com/the-music.html }}</ref>

== Notable artists ==
[[File:VanGogh 1887 Selbstbildnis.jpg|thumb|[[Vincent van Gogh]], ''Self Portrait'', 1887, using pointillist technique.]]
[[File:Morning, Interior - Luce.jpeg|thumb|[[Maximilien Luce]], ''Morning, Interior'', 1890, using pointillist technique.]]

*[[Albert Dubois-Pillet]]
*[[Alfred William Finch]]
*[[Camille Pissarro]]
*[[Charles Angrand]]
*[[Chuck Close]]
*[[Gale D. Jones]]
*[[Georges Lemmen]]
*[[Georges Seurat]]
*[[Henri Delavallée]]
*[[Henri-Edmond Cross]]
*[[Hippolyte Petitjean]]
*[[Jan Toorop]]
*[[Jean Metzinger]]
*[[John Roy]]
*[[Louis Fabien]] ([[pseudonym]])
*[[Maximilien Luce]]
*[[Paul Signac]]
*[[Théo van Rysselberghe]]
*[[Vincent van Gogh]]

== Notable paintings ==

* ''[[A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte]]'' by [[Georges Seurat]]
* ''[[Bathers at Asnières]]'' by [[Georges Seurat]]
* ''The Windmills at Overschie'' by [[Paul Signac]]
* ''Banks of Seine'' by [[Georges Seurat]]
* ''A Coastal Scene'' by [[Théo van Rysselberghe]]
* ''Family in the Orchard'' by [[Théo van Rysselberghe]]
* ''Countryside at Noon'' by [[Théo van Rysselberghe]]
* ''Afternoon at Pardigon'' by [[Henri-Edmond Cross]]
* ''Rio San Trovaso, Venice'' by [[Henri-Edmond Cross]]
* ''The Seine in front of the Trocadero'' by [[Henri-Edmond Cross]]
* ''The Pine Tree at St. Tropez'' by [[Paul Signac]]
* ''[[Opus 217. Against the Enamel of a Background Rhythmic with Beats and Angles, Tones, and Tints, Portrait of M. Félix Fénéon in 1890]]'' by [[Paul Signac]]
* ''The Yellow Sail, Venice'' by [[Paul Signac]]
* ''Notre Dame Cathedral'' by [[Maximilien Luce]]
* ''Le Pont De Pierre, Rouen'' by [[Charles Angrand]]
* [[:File:Lemmen2.jpg|''The Beach at Heist'']] by [[Georges Lemmen]]
* ''Aline Marechal'' by [[Georges Lemmen]]
* ''Vase of Flowers'' by [[Georges Lemmen]]
* ''[[Two Nudes in an Exotic Landscape]]'' by [[Jean Metzinger]]

== Gallery ==
<gallery widths="160px" heights="160px">
File:Baigneurs a Asnieres.jpg|[[Georges Seurat]], 1884, ''[[Bathers at Asnières]]'', oil on canvas, 201 × 301&nbsp;cm, [[National Gallery]], London
File:Georges Seurat - A Sunday on La Grande Jatte -- 1884 - Google Art Project.jpg|[[Georges Seurat]], 1884–1886, ''[[A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte]]'', oil on canvas, 207.6 x 308&nbsp;cm, [[Art Institute of Chicago]]
File:Rijsselberghe, Voiliers.jpg|[[Théo van Rysselberghe]], 1887, ''[[Sailboats and Estuary]]'', oil on canvas,  50.2 x 61&nbsp;cm, [[Musée d'Orsay]]
File:Apple Harvest by Camille Pissarro.jpg|[[Camille Pissarro]], 1888, ''La Récolte des pommes'', oil on canvas,  61 x 74&nbsp;cm, [[Dallas Museum of Art]]
File:1889 Toorop Brug in Londen anagoria.JPG|[[Jan Toorop]], 1889, ''Bridge in London'', [[Kröller-Müller Museum]]
File:Young Woman Powdering Herself Georges Seurat.jpg|[[Georges Seurat]], c.1889-90 ''[[Young Woman Powdering Herself (Seurat)|Young Woman Powdering Herself]]'', [[Courtauld Gallery]]
File:Lemmen2.jpg|[[Georges Lemmen]], c.1891-92, ''The Beach at Heist'', [[Musée d'Orsay]] [[Paris, France|Paris]]
File:Theo Van Rysselberghe portrait-of-irma-sethe-1894.jpg|[[Théo van Rysselberghe]], 1894, ''[[Portrait of Irma Sèthe]]''
File:Van Rysselberghe femme et enfant.jpg|[[Théo van Rysselberghe]], 1899, ''His wife Maria and daughter Elisabeth''
File:Paul Signac - L'Hirondelle Steamer on the Seine.JPG|[[Paul Signac]], 1901, ''L'Hirondelle Steamer on the Seine'', oil on canvas, [[National Gallery in Prague]]
File:Henri Edmond Cross - Regatta in Venice - Google Art Project.jpg|[[Henri-Edmond Cross]], 1903–04, ''Regatta in Venice'', oil on canvas, 73.7 x 92.7&nbsp;cm, [[Museum of Fine Arts, Houston]]
File:Jean Metzinger, c.1906, Femme au Chapeau (Woman with a Hat), oil on canvas, 44.8 x 36.8 cm, Korban Art Foundation..jpg|[[Jean Metzinger]], c.1906, ''[[Femme au Chapeau]] (Woman with a Hat)'', oil on canvas, 44.8 x 36.8&nbsp;cm, Korban Art Foundation
File:Robert Delaunay, 1906, Portrait de Metzinger, oil on canvas, 55 x 43 cm, DSC08255.jpg|[[Robert Delaunay]], 1906, ''Portrait de Metzinger'', oil on canvas, 55 x 43&nbsp;cm
File:Hippolyte Petitjean - Femmes au bain.jpg|[[Hippolyte Petitjean]], 1919, ''Femmes au bain'', oil on canvas, 61.1 X 46&nbsp;cm, private collection
File:Paul Signac Femmes au puits 1892détailcouleur.jpg|[[Paul Signac]], ''Femmes au Puits'', 1892, showing a detail with constituent colors. [[Musée d'Orsay]], Paris
File:Henri-Edmond Cross - The Evening Air - Google Art Project.jpg|[[Henri-Edmond Cross]], ''L'air du soir'', c.1893, [[Musée d'Orsay]]
</gallery>

== See also ==
* [[Contemporary Indigenous Australian art]], the most well-known style of which is known as "dot painting"
* [[Halftone]]
* ''[[Klangfarbenmelodie]]''
* [[Micromontage]], similar technique in music
* [[Pixel art]]
* [[Stipple engraving]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
*[http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15324coll10/id/73155 Georges Seurat, 1859–1891], a fully digitized exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries
*[http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15324coll10/id/161820/rec/1 ''Signac, 1863–1935''], a fully digitized exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries
*Exhibition catalogue, ''[http://www.jillnewhouse.com/catalogues/dot-dot-dot-pointilism-and-beyond-1885-2018 Dot Dot Dot ... Pointilism and Beyond 1885 - 2018]'', Jill Newhouse Gallery, 2 November - 10 December 2021

{{Georges Seurat}}
{{Paul Signac}}
{{Western art movements}}
{{Post-Impressionism}}

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[[Category:Pointillism| ]]
[[Category:Artistic techniques]]
[[Category:Painting techniques]]
[[Category:Post-Impressionism]]