Becoming an apprentice to Seisley

Author: Mu Zi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-01-01
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Seurat was born in Paris in 1839. Both of his parents were British, but Seurat spent his entire life in France. His father was a businessman in London and Paris, and the family was wealthy. His mother was passionate about music and literature, which greatly influenced Seurat's temperament. After Seurat came of age, his father had him help with the business. During this time, he diligently studied the paintings of Turner and Constable. Starting in 1860, Seurat broke away from classical painting methods and learned to paint under the guidance of the Barbizon landscape painters, using light and delicate colors to depict scenes of forests and rural landscapes. He was particularly captivated by Corot's poetic and soft landscapes. He loved the ethereal scenes shrouded in thin mist, which gave them a melancholic tone. He believed that Corot's technique was very close to his own temperament. His paintings reveal some characteristics of early Impressionist landscape paintings. Seurat was a gentle and reserved person. Due to his limited number of works, historical records of him are not as detailed as those of other Impressionist painters. Although he remained committed to the Impressionist path, he accepted fewer of the highly subjective elements of Impressionist painting. In his depiction of light, he maintained his unique sense of realism, vitality, and variety. Like Monet, he was sensitive to the whispers of leaves and the shimmer of water waves, but he was more skilled than Monet at preserving the structure of landscapes, rather than reducing them to fleeting reflections of color and light. In his paintings, shapes were strict and did not dissolve into the air—trees were trees, houses were houses. He believed that landscape paintings should have a literary quality, with each painting evoking a sense of perfection. He avoided any strong or rough effects, instead expressing his tranquil life through infinite poetic charm. He suffered a fate similar to that of other Impressionist painters: poverty, hunger, loneliness, and obscurity. He was not lacking in talent, but his life was filled with misfortune, without any thrilling adventures. He expressed his feelings through transparent tones, depicting the warm sunlight, gray skies, shimmering rivers, and warm-toned snow. His brushwork was not bold, and he used meticulous realism to show the subtle light and shadows he perceived. Although his subjects were few, his paintings spoke softly. As he said, "In my lifetime, I have rarely seen works by other painters of flooded landscapes that are as rich and beautiful as his—truly an extraordinary masterpiece." Instead of depicting the flood, Seurat painted a "Venetian landscape," showing poetic scenes through different seasons, weather, and natural phenomena.