Georges Seurat

A closer introduction

Georges Seurat entered the École Municipale de Sculpture et de Dessin in Paris at the age of fifteen, where he studied with the sculptor Justin Lequien (1826-1882) and met Aman-Jean (q.v.). At the École des Beaux-Arts three years later he was taught by Henri Lehmann (1814-1882), a former pupil of Ingres (q.v.). He developed an interest in the color theory of Michel-Eugène Chevreul, who had postulated how the isolation and juxtaposition of colors can affect their perception. In the Louvre he studied the works of two master colorists, Rubens (1577-1640) and Delacroix (q.v.). Seurat attended the Fourth Impressionist Exhibit in 1879, and he later confessed to be particularly shocked by the works of Monet (q.v.) and Pissarro (q.v.).