Editing Georges Seurat (section)

==Biography==
[[File:Georges Seurat, 1889-90, Le Chahut, Kröller-Müller Museum.jpg|thumb|238px|Georges Seurat, 1889–90, ''[[Le Chahut]]'', oil on canvas, 170 x 141 cm, [[Kröller-Müller Museum]], Otterlo]]

===Family and education===
Seurat was born on 2 December 1859 in Paris, at 60 rue de Bondy (now rue René Boulanger). The Seurat family moved to 136 boulevard de Magenta (now 110 boulevard de Magenta) in 1862 or 1863.<ref name=kmmbio>[[#kmm|Seurat]]: p. 16</ref> His father, Antoine Chrysostome Seurat, originally from [[Champagne, France|Champagne]], was a former legal official who had become wealthy from speculating in property, and his mother, Ernestine Faivre, was from Paris.{{sfn|Georges Seurat, 1859–1891|1991|p=11}} Georges had a brother, Émile Augustin, and a sister, Marie-Berthe, both older. His father lived in [[Le Raincy]] and visited his wife and children once a week at boulevard de Magenta.<ref name="Seurat: p. 17">[[#kmm|Seurat]]: p. 17</ref>

Georges Seurat first studied art at the École Municipale de Sculpture et Dessin, near his family's home in the boulevard Magenta, which was run by the sculptor Justin Lequien.<ref name=techbull>{{cite journal|journal=National Gallery Technical Bulletin|volume=24|year=2003|title=Seurat's painting Practice: Theory, Development and Technology|author1=Kirby, Jo |author2=Stonor, Kate |author3=Burnstock, Aviva |author3-link=Aviva Burnstock |author4=Grout, Rachel |author5=Roy, Ashok |author6=White, Raymond }}</ref>{{sfn|Georges Seurat, 1859–1891|1991|p=12}} In 1878, he moved on to the [[École des Beaux-Arts]] where he was taught by [[Henri Lehmann]], and followed a conventional academic training, drawing from casts of antique sculpture and copying drawings by old masters.<ref name=techbull/> Seurat's studies resulted in a well-considered and fertile theory of contrasts: a theory to which all his work was thereafter subjected.<ref>Signac, Paul ''Brief Survey, in Revue Blanche'' Paris 1899</ref> His formal artistic education came to an end in November 1879, when he left the École des Beaux-Arts for a year of military service.{{sfn|Georges Seurat, 1859–1891|1991|p=12}}

After a year at the [[Brest Naval Training Centre|Brest Military Academy]], he returned to Paris where he shared a studio with his friend [[Edmond Aman-Jean|Aman-Jean]], while also renting a small apartment at 16 rue de Chabrol.{{sfn|Georges Seurat, 1859–1891|1991|p=11}} For the next two years, he worked at mastering the art of monochrome drawing. His first exhibited work, shown at the [[Salon de Paris|Salon]], of 1883, was a Conté crayon drawing of Aman-Jean.{{sfn|Georges Seurat, 1859–1891|1991|p=48}} He also studied the works of [[Eugène Delacroix]] carefully, making notes on his use of color.<ref name=techbull/>

===''Bathers at Asnières''===

[[File:Baigneurs a Asnieres.jpg|thumb|left|280px|''[[Bathers at Asnières]]'', 1884, oil on canvas, 201 × 301&nbsp;cm, [[National Gallery]], London]]
He spent 1883 working on his first major painting{{snd}}a large canvas titled ''[[Bathers at Asnières]]'',{{sfn|Georges Seurat, 1859–1891|1991|p=148}} a monumental work showing young men relaxing by the Seine in a working-class suburb of Paris.{{sfn|Georges Seurat, 1859–1891|1991|p=150}} Although influenced in its use of color and light tone by Impressionism, the painting with its smooth, simplified textures and carefully outlined, rather sculptural figures, shows the continuing impact of his neoclassical training; the critic [[Paul Alexis]] described it as a "faux [[Puvis de Chavannes]]".{{sfn|Georges Seurat, 1859–1891|1991|pp=147–48}} Seurat also departed from the Impressionist ideal by preparing for the work with a number of drawings and oil sketches before starting on the canvas in his studio.{{sfn|Georges Seurat, 1859–1891|1991|pp=147–48}}

''Bathers at Asnières'' was rejected by the Paris Salon, and instead he showed it at the Groupe des Artistes Indépendants in May 1884. Soon, however, disillusioned by the poor organization of the Indépendants, Seurat and some other artists he had met through the group – including [[Charles Angrand]], [[Henri-Edmond Cross]], [[Albert Dubois-Pillet]] and [[Paul Signac]] – set up a new organization, the [[Société des Artistes Indépendants]].{{sfn|Georges Seurat, 1859–1891|1991|p=148}} Seurat's new ideas on [[pointillism]] were to have an especially strong influence on Signac, who subsequently painted in the same idiom.

===''A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte''===
[[File:A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, Georges Seurat, 1884.png|thumb|280px|''[[A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte]]'', 1884–1886, oil on canvas, 207.5 × 308.1&nbsp;cm, [[Art Institute of Chicago]]]]

In summer 1884, Seurat began work on ''[[A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte]]''.

The painting shows members of each of the social classes participating in various park activities. The tiny juxtaposed dots of multi-colored paint allow the viewer's eye to blend colors optically, rather than having the colors physically blended on the canvas. It took Seurat two years to complete this {{convert|10|ft|m|adj=mid|-wide}} painting, much of which he spent in the park sketching in preparation for the work. There are about 60 studies for the large painting, including a smaller version, ''Study for A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte'' (1884–1885), which is now in the collection of The [[Art Institute of Chicago]]. The full work is also part of the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.<ref>[http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/51.112.6 Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History] Retrieved 25 April 2010</ref>

The painting was the inspiration for [[James Lapine]] and [[Stephen Sondheim]]'s musical ''[[Sunday in the Park with George]]''<ref>{{cite web|access-date=18 December 2016|title=Sunday in the Park with George – Chicago Shakespeare Theater|url=http://www.theatreinchicago.com/sunday-in-the-park-with-george/5772/|website=Theatreinchicago.com}}</ref><ref>Gans, Andrew. [http://www.playbill.com/article/mcdonald-lupone-cerveris-sunday-in-the-park-with-george-begins-sept-3-com-121614# "McDonald-LuPone-Cerveris ''Sunday in the Park with George'' Begins Sept. 3"] Playbill.com, 3 September 2004</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newlinetheatre.com/sundaypage.html|title=New Line Theatre 2003–2004 – Sunday in the Park with George|website=Newlinetheatre.com|access-date=20 January 2018}}</ref> and played a significant symbolic role in [[John Hughes (filmmaker)|John Hughes]]' ''[[Ferris Bueller's Day Off]]''.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/arts-post/post/john-hughes-video-explains-ferris-bueller-scene-at-art-institute/2011/11/16/gIQAZBAERN_blog.html |title=John Hughes video explains 'Ferris Bueller' scene at Art Institute |newspaper=The Washington Post |last=Judkis |first=Maura |date=16 November 2011 |access-date=9 December 2021 }}</ref>

===Later career and personal life===
[[File:Georges Seurat, 1889-90, Jeune femme se poudrant (Young Woman Powdering Herself), oil on canvas, 95.5 x 79.5 cm, Courtauld Institute of Art.jpg|thumb|left|''[[Young Woman Powdering Herself (Seurat)|Jeune femme se poudrant]]'' (''Young Woman Powdering Herself''), 1888–1890, oil on canvas, 95.5 x 79.5&nbsp;cm, [[Courtauld Institute of Art]]]]
Seurat concealed his relationship with Madeleine Knobloch (or Madeleine Knoblock, 1868–1903), an artist's model whom he portrayed in his painting ''[[Young Woman Powdering Herself (Seurat)|Jeune femme se poudrant]]''. In 1889, she moved in with Seurat in his studio on the seventh floor of 128 bis [[Boulevard de Clichy]].<ref name=kmm1822>[[#kmm|Seurat]]: pp. 18–22</ref>

When Madeleine became pregnant, the couple moved to a studio at 39 passage de l'Élysée-des-Beaux-Arts (now rue André Antoine). There she gave birth to their son, who was named Pierre-Georges, on 16 February 1890.<ref name=kmm1822 />

Seurat spent the summer of 1890 on the coast at [[Gravelines]], where he painted four canvases including ''[[The Channel of Gravelines, Petit Fort Philippe]]'', as well as eight oil panels, and made a few drawings.{{sfn|Georges Seurat, 1859–1891|1991|p=360}}

===Death===
Seurat died in Paris in his parents' home on 29 March 1891 at the age of 31.<ref name=kmmbio /> The cause of his death is uncertain, and has been variously attributed to a form of [[meningitis]], [[pneumonia]], infectious angina, and [[diphtheria]]. His son died two weeks later from the same disease.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol11no01/04-0269.htm |title=''Death of Seurat'', CDC |publisher=Cdc.gov |date=14 April 2011 |access-date=13 March 2014}}</ref> His last ambitious work, ''[[The Circus (Seurat painting)|The Circus]]'', was left unfinished at the time of his death.

On 30 March 1891 a funeral Mass was held in the [[Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, Paris|Church of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul]].<ref name=kmmbio /> Seurat was interred 31 March 1891 at [[Cimetière du Père-Lachaise]].<ref name="Seurat: p. 17"/>

At the time of Seurat's death, Madeleine was pregnant with a second child who died during or shortly after birth.<ref>[[#kmm|Seurat]]: p. 18</ref>