The Courtauld will present the first ever exhibition dedicated to the seascapes of the major French Post-Impressionist artist Georges Seurat (1859–1891). This ambitious exhibition will be the first devoted to Seurat in the UK in almost 30 years. It will chart the evolution of his radical and distinctive style through the recurring motif of the sea. It follows major Impressionist exhibitions at The Courtauld, such as Cézanne’s Card Players, The Morgan Stanley Exhibition: Van Gogh. Self-Portraits and, most recently, the acclaimed The Griffin Catalyst Exhibition: Monet and London. Views of the Thames, which was seen by a record 120,000 visitors.
The Courtauld holds the largest collection of works by Seurat in the UK. The artist is best known as the creator of the Neo-Impressionist technique, in which shapes and light are rendered by juxtaposing small dots of pure colour. Due to his early death at the age of 31, Seurat left a small body of work and exhibitions devoted to him are rare.
The exhibition will bring together 27 paintings, oil sketches and drawings from major private and public collections, made by Seurat during the five summers he spent on the northern coast of France, between 1885 and 1890. Working in port towns along the English Channel, including Honfleur, Port-en-Bessin and Gravelines, Seurat captured their seascapes and port activity in his distinctive Neo-Impressionist technique. He sought, in his words, ‘to wash his eyes of the days spent in the studio [in Paris] and to translate in the most faithful manner the bright clarity, in all its nuances’.
Georges Seurat, Seascape at Port-en-Bessin, Normandy, 1888, Oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC.
Georges Seurat, (1859-1891), Young Woman Powdering Herself, (1888-90), The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust) © The Courtauld
Georges Seurat The Bridge at Courbevoie c. 1886-87 oil on canvas Samuel Courtauld, bequest, 1948 Courtauld Gallery, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)
Georges Seurat Man Painting a bBoat c. 1883 oil on panel Samuel Courtauld, bequest, 1948 Courtauld Gallery, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)
