Arts and Culture

Seurat's life and work uncovered in fascinating tour

ZIWA's loyal group of art lovers may have been expecting to see more of the French artist's famous works on display at the Zürich Kunsthaus recently. We soon learnt why some of his masterpieces were not amongst this recent show - many of his works are too fragile to travel. This fact and more were revealed to us by tour guide Marion Bernauer on this Tuesday afternoon visit by the Arts and Culture group.

Marion introduced us to the exhibition in the spacious first-floor gallery space by mentioning that it had taken two years to put this collection together. It contained one large work and many smaller paintings and sketches by the French artist who died tragically young in Paris at the age of 31. Seurat was born in 1859 to a wealthy family, and was a contemporary of Monet and Renoir: he worked mainly in Paris but also travelled to Normandy. He studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and was a pupil of Ingres. Seurat was inspired by the Impressionist exhibition, and left the Ecole to practise alone for two years. His Head of a Young Girl was from this early period in 1877-79, in which the influence of his mentor could be seen.

Seurat produced many small monochrome drawings in pencil and crayon conté on hand-made paper. His preferred subjects were ordinary Parisians. He was close to his mother while his father was largely a stranger to him. His early works were small masterpieces with many subtle nuances, such as The Gardener (1882) done in oil on wood. Marion described many of his works as "croquoton" or unfinished sketches in nature, which were produced on wood panels which fitted inside a paintbox. Seurat was inspired by the Barbison School of artists such as Millais, when the effects of industrialisation in Paris were not yet visible.

We saw two familiar small masterpieces, sketches for his famous Bathers of Asnières work of 1883 which hangs in the National Gallery in London and is too fragile to travel. Seurat decided that the Impressionists were too chaotic and he preferred order and structure in his work. There was also a sketch for La Grande Jatte in this delightful collection. In his next works, industry started to creep into the background when Parisians escaped the city by train to the suburb of Asnières. Seurat was exploring composition in many of his works at this time. He was turned down by the Salon, but was offered a place in the Salon des Indépendents, but in a dark corner of the exhibition. Seurat was a friend of Signac's, who we saw in Zug last year, but it was Seurat who earned the title of Father of Pointillism after completing his large painting of A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte of 1885. The painting is a revealing image of the bourgeoisie at leisure in contrast with the working classes relaxing on the other side of the river. There is symbolism in his works, too, in the shape of the fisherman or pecheur, a sinner, a monkey symbolising sexuality and the child for purity.

One small masterpiece which intrigued us was his Eiffel Tower which was painted before the tower was completed in 1889. We noted that it was painted red at that time. In 1885, Seurat travelled to Normandy and worked on several seascapes to which he added a painted frame, as the available frames were considered ugly. His technique of carefully placed dots of colour was inspired by the scientist Chevreul who discovered that colour is mixed in the eye. The final work and pièce de resistance of this exhibition was Le Cirque, a large work with a blue painted frame which was given pride of place at the far end of the exhibition and had much more space here than it normally commands in the Musée d'Orsay.

Seurat died tragically from diphtheria in 1891 shortly after completing Le Cirque. Only after his death was it discovered that he had a secret wife, Madeleine Knobloch, who was also the mother of his child. Seurat's parents gave her some of his paintings and his friends each received one, and they ended up being sold all over the world. Signac wrote afterwards about Seurat's ideas, and his posterity was ensured.

After this fascinating insight, we convened in the café opposite to discuss the exhibition.
The Kunsthaus Zürich is beginning a new building project in 2010. Keep up to date with their latest program at www.kunsthaus.ch

By Julia Newton, 6 November 2009

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