Georges Seurat

Early Life
Georges Pierre Seurat was born on 2nd December 1859 in
Paris, France. His parents were wealthy, and he had an older
brother and sister. From an early age, Georges showed great
artistic talent. He attended an art school called École
Municipale de Sculpture et Dessin, and later École des
Beaux-Arts where he learned about sculpture and drawing.

He had to leave school to do a year of military training, but

after this, he returned to the art world. He shared an
apartment with his friend and spent much of his time
mastering the art of monochrome drawing, which meant I Georges Seurat

everything was in black and white.

As Georges’ parents were wealthy, they helped him set up his own studio. He
was not a poor artist like many of his friends of that time.

II Sunday Afternoon on the Island

Creator of Pointillism
He developed a whole new technique to
painting which became known as Pointillism.
This is a style that describes the way in which
paint is put on to canvas, tiny dots very close
together, causing the human eye to blend the
colours into an image when seen from a
distance.

Famous Paintings
In 1888, he painted one of his most famous paintings: Bathers in Asnières. It
showed people relaxing by the River Seine. Georges was very proud of this work,
but it was rejected from the Paris Salon, the official French art exhibition.
Instead, he showed it to the Groupe des Artistes Indépendants, but soon was
not happy with how the group was organised. So, he
set up a group with some other artist friends,
called Société des Artistes Indépendants. Paul
Signac was one of his friends. He was also an artist
and began painting in the pointillist style too.
In 1884, Seurat began work on a 6.10 x 10.1ft
painting called Sunday Afternoon on the Island of III Bathers in Asnières
La Grande Jatte. It took him two years to complete, and he kept it a secret
from everyone. He would go to the riverbank each morning to make sketches and
return to his studio in the afternoon to continue painting the pointillist
masterpiece.

Death and Legacy

Georges Seurat died on 29th March 1891 from an unknown illness. He was just
31 years old. It was likely he died from meningitis or pneumonia. His son died a
week later from the same disease. Seurat was buried in the family tomb. His
final painting, The Circus, was left unfinished. He left the world with a legacy of
a whole new style of painting and numerous masterpieces now being enjoyed and
appreciated by people around the world.

IAL: to identify the main features of non-fiction texts

 1) Find all the non-fiction text features in the text. Write them all below and
explain their function.

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2) Choose 2 subheadings from the text and replace them with your own.

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3) Create your own picture using the style of Pointillism, write a caption that
matches your picture.

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IAL: to retrieve and collect information
_____________________

Create a fact file about the artist. Include the following information:

 Name
 Georges Seurat
Early Life
Georges Pierre Seurat was born on 2nd December 1859 in
Paris, France. His parents were wealthy, and he had an older
brother and sister. From an early age, Georges showed great
artistic talent. He attended an art school called École
Municipale de Sculpture et Dessin, and later École des
Beaux-Arts where he learned about sculpture and drawing.

He had to leave school to do a year of military training, but

after this, he returned to the art world. As Georges’ parents
were wealthy, they helped him set up his own studio. He was
not a poor artist like many of his friends of that time. IV Georges Seurat

Creator of Pointillism

He developed a whole new technique to painting

which became known as Pointillism. This is a
style which uses tiny dots very close together,
forming a picture when seen from far away.

V Sunday Afternoon on the Island

Famous Paintings
In 1888, he painted one of his most famous paintings: Bathers in Asnières. It
showed people relaxing by the River Seine. Georges was very proud of this work,
but it was rejected from the Paris Salon, the official French art exhibition.

In 1884, Seurat began work on a painting called

Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande
Jatte. It took him two years to complete, and he
kept it a secret from everyone. He would go to the
riverbank each morning to make sketches and
return to his studio in the afternoon to continue
VI Bathers in Asnières
painting his masterpiece.

Death and Legacy

Georges Seurat died on 29th March 1891 from an unknown illness. Seurat was
buried in the family tomb. He left the world with a legacy of a whole new style
of painting and numerous masterpieces now being enjoyed and appreciated by
people around the world.

IAL: to identify the main features of non-fiction texts

1) Find the following, then explain what they are:

Heading  Georges Seurat
What is a heading?
A heading tells you what the text is about.

Subheading  Death and legacy, creator of pointillism, early life,

famous paintings
_________________________________________________
What is a subheading?
It tells you what a paragraph is about

Photograph/Picture (circle in the text)

Why do we use pictures in non-fiction texts?
Because it shows you what is happening in the text

Caption _________________________________________________
What is a caption?
It tells you what a picture is about.

2) Choose 1 subheadings from the text and replace them with your own.

Subheading: __________________________________________________

Your version:
__________________________________________________

IAL: to retrieve and collect information

Create a fact file about the artist. Include the following information:
 Pointillism Painter Fact File
Name of Painter Painter (Draw your own picture)

__________________________
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Date of Birth / Death

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Where was he born? Where did he study?

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Famous Paintings Describe one of them:

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What is Pointillism?

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__________________________________________________________

Georges Seurat
Early Life
Georges Seurat was born on 2nd December 1859 in Paris,
France. He attended an art school called where he learned
about sculpture and drawing.

He had to leave school to do a year of military training, but

after this, he returned to the art world. As Georges’ parents
were wealthy, they helped him set up his own studio.

Pointillism and Famous Paintings

He developed a whole new style to painting called Pointillism. VII Georges Seurat

This is a style which uses tiny dots very close together.

One of his famous paitings was Bathers in Asnières.

It showed people relaxing by the River Seine.

Seurat also painted Sunday Afternoon on the Island

of La Grande Jatte. It took him two years to
complete, and he kept it a secret from everyone.
VIII Sunday Afternoon on the Island
Death
Georges Seurat died on 29th March 1891 from an illness. He left
the world a whole new style of painting and
masterpieces.

IX Bathers in Asnières

IAL: to identify the main features of non-fiction texts

Find the following in the text, copy them below.

Heading  ___________________________________________________

Subheadings
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________

Photograph/Picture (circle in the text)

Caption
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________

IAL: to retrieve and collect information

Create a fact file about the artist. Include the following information:
 Pointillism Painter Fact File
Name of Painter Painter (Draw your own picture)

__________________________
__________________________
__________________________

Date of Birth / Death

__________________________
__________________________

Where was he born? Famous Paintings

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What was his painting style called?

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