Pointillism is a painting technique in which small, distinct dots of color are applied in patterns to form an image. Its fundamental principle lies in its scientific and systematic approach to color and light, which predated and conceptually parallels modern digital imaging technology, pixels.
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Revolutionary Approach
George Seurat, one of the founding fathers of Pointillism, spent most of his life studying colors and working out systematically how one color, placed in a series of dots adjacent to those of another, appears vibrant and luminous.
George Seurat believes that colors, being seen as small continuous dots instead of traditional mixtures of tints, are vivid. This innovative concept would be the basis of what we call Pointillism.
Scientific Basis
Michel Eugene Chevreul, a chemist, whose theories of contrasting or complementary colors became the intellectual foundation of Pointillism. When investigating the vibrance of certain dyes, he discovered that the problem was not with the dyes themselves, but with the colors adjacent to them.
Foreshadowing Digital Pixels
The fundamental principle of Pointillism mirrors the technology of modern digital displays. They are linked by their reliance on the viewer’s eyes to perform optical mixing of small, individual color points to perceive a complete image.
Computer and phone screens use tiny red, green, and blue pixels that blend in to create a full picture, an analog to manually placed dots of pigments by George Seurat.
References
- Art Movement: Pointillism Art
- Georges Seurat: Great Art Explained
- Pointillism Art Movement And Its Most Inspiring Artists
- Color display, liquid crystal display, and semi-transmissive liquid crystal display