What is Pointillism?
Q: What is Pointillism?
A: Pointillism is a way of painting in which small separate dots of pure color are used to form images. The eye and mind of the viewer mix the colours to make different shades of these colours, as well as orange, purple, pink, and brown depending on the way the dots of colour are arranged.
Q: Who developed this technique?
A: Georges Seurat and Paul Signac developed this technique in 1886. Other important artists were Camille Pissarro and Vincent van Gogh.
Q: How did art critics respond when they first saw Pointillist paintings?
A: Art critics who saw their work laughed at it and called it "Pointillism" as an insult. This name is still used, but is no longer thought of as an insult.
Q: How do traditional painters create their artwork?
A: Traditional painters blend pigments (mix colours) on a palette while pointillist painters do not mix the colours on the palette at all – they just use the colours straight from the tube. Traditional painters also use many types of brushstrokes, and many textures of paint to create their artwork.
Q: What does a pointillist painting typically look like?
A: A pointillist painting has every part done in tiny dots with most being about the same size. The surface may have flat colour, lines, squiggles and dabs of paint but all will be composed using tiny dots rather than brush strokes or other textures like traditional paintings or impressionist paintings would have.
Q: What type of paints are usually used for Pointillism?
A: Pointillism is usually done in oil paints because they are thick and do not run into each other when they are painted on the canvas.
