Van Gogh in

Seurat’s studio

Vincent admired the work of Georges Seurat (1859–1891), whom he met at the exhibition he organised at Restaurant du Chalet in November and December 1887. Just before leaving for Arles on 19 February 1888, Vincent visited Seurat in his studio on Boulevard de Clichy for the first time, together with his brother Theo. He probably saw the large paintings A Sunday on La Grande Jatte and The Models there. From then on, in his letters to Theo, he often asked after Seurat and once recalled how moved he had been by the artist’s work. He often thought about pointillism, the painting technique Seurat had introduced:

“As for stippling, making halos or other things, I find that a real discovery, but it can already be foreseen that this technique won’t become a universal dogma any more than another. Another reason why Seurat’s La Grande Jatte, Signac’s landscapes with coarse stippling, Anquetin’s boat, will in time become even more personal, even more original.” Read the complete letter

Three weeks later, he wrote:

“I often think about his system, and yet I won’t follow it at all, but he’s an original colourist, and it’s the same thing for Signac, but to a different degree; the pointillists have found something new, and I like them very much all the same.” [[[brief nr =683]] Read the complete letter