Seurat and the Sea

Ce catalogue savant et magnifiquement illustré retrace l’évolution du style radicalet distinctif de l’artiste français, Georges Seurat, à travers le motif récurrent de lamer. Il accompagne la toute première grande exposition consacrée aux marines deSeurat qui se tient à la Courtauld Gallery de Londres. C’est également la premièreexposition dédiée à l’artiste au Royaume-Uni depuis près de 30 ans.Georges Seurat (1859–1891) is best known as the creator of the Neo-Impressionisttechnique, in which shapes and light are rendered by juxtaposing small dots of purecolour. Seurat and the Sea brings together paintings, oil sketches and drawings madeduring the five summers he spent on the northern coast of France between 1885and 1890. Working in port towns along the English Channel – including Honfleur,Port-en-Bessin and Gravelines – Seurat captured their seascapes, regattas and portactivity in his luminous, atmospheric style.These coastal works are an important counterpoint to his better-knownParisian scenes. Seurat sought, in his words, “to wash his eyes of the days spent inthe studio [in Paris] and to translate in the most faithful manner the bright clarity,in all its nuances”. By focusing on this key aspect of his practice, Seurat and the Seaoffers new insight into the development of his singular approach to colour, lightand form, and reveals the importance of the seascapes in disseminating the artist’swork beyond the monumental canvases for which he is best known.Due to his untimely death at the age of 31, Seurat left behind a small butextraordinarily influential body of work. Works from The Courtauld – which holdsthe largest collection of his work in the UK, thanks to the vision of collector andfounder Samuel Courtauld – are joined by loans from around the world.