Art lesson: Pointillism and Seurat

"La Grande Jatte" by Georges Seurat

This is one of my favorite paintings, so I really enjoyed sharing it with the kids. It was also the inspiration for one of my favorite musicals by Sondheim, Sunday in the Park with George, and I enjoyed sharing that with the kids as well.

There's some good information about the painting here and here, and some wonderful close-ups here.

We talked about pointillism and reviewed primary and secondary colors. The closeups of the painting really allowed up to see how Seurat used primary colors to create secondary colors. (Cue Sondheim's Color and Light.)

When it was time to paint, each child chose a different tool.

Michael used the eraser end of an unused pencil.
Nicholas used a q-tip.

And Katie Grace used her own fingers.

Nicholas's was very abstract. Katie Grace did a stage picture, inspired by the scenes from Sunday in the Park with George we watched and listened to as we painted. Michael's picture showed creativity and thoughtfulness-- it was "a futuristic space hotel".

"This is a world both real and unreal - a sacred world. We are often harried by life's pressures and its speed, and many of us think at times: Stop the world, I want to get off! In this painting, Seurat has "stopped the world," and it reveals itself as beautiful, sunlit, and silent - it is Seurat's world, from which we would never want to get off."
Sister Wendy