Pointillism or divisionism is a painting technique that seeks to represent light through the application of points, which when viewed from a certain distance, make up well-defined figures and landscapes.
What Is The Pointillism Technique?
As a technique that has its origin in impressionist masters, pointillism does not use brush strokes but instead is based on the use of small dots of different colors on a surface to create depth in a work of art and to give rise to different color games. In doing so, the artist can create incredibly subtle variations in color that would otherwise seem clumsy. In the paintings made in pointillism, all colors are pure and never mix with each other but it is the eye of the beholder who does it.
Features
The main characteristics of pointillism are the following:
- In pointillism the colors used are completely pure, they never mix.
- Through the points, it is possible to give a sense of depth in the works.
- Get color ranges through the application of points.
- Only primary colors are used and the eye is responsible for making the mixture.
- In the paintings, there is a feeling that the light emanates from the bodies.
- The ascending lines of pointillism, warm colors and clear values expressed joy.
- Lines down, the cool colors and dark values represented sadness.
- Pointillism reflects order, clarity, and planning
- The main themes chosen to paint using this technique were ports, banks of rivers, and circus scenes.
- They care about the volume.
What Materials And Tools Do You Need To Do Pointillism?
The materials needed to perform the technique are not many but they are basic, these are:
- A canvas, which can be paper or blank cardboard.
- Colored paints
- Pens or pens.
- Pencils, colored or others.
How Exactly Is It Done?
The steps needed to perform the pointillism technique are the following:
- Think about the image we want to represent, for this you can expand the drawing and then see the sources of light it has, to determine where more light will be needed and where less.
- Decide on the medium to be used for stippling, which can be a fine-tipped pen, black or colored pencils and paint, although this last option is not highly recommended.
- Start creating the shapes of the drawings but without drawing any type of line, everything must be with points.
- Dot the images that have been made establishing a certain starting point. Dotting is done by pressing the pen or pencil by placing the dots on the paper.
- Once you begin to see shapes, they are also starting to add details.
History
A new and different style, whose technique was based on the application of small juxtaposed points of pure color, appeared at the end of the 19th century with the name of pointillism. The founder of Pointillism was Georges Seurat, a model student at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Georges Seurat declared the impressionist style as old-fashioned with his monumental “Sunday afternoon on the island of La Grande Jatte”, in 1886. Seurat developed a notation system that juxtaposed pure colors and theoretically produced luminosity greater than could be achieved, because the color strokes placed would merge into the eye of the beholder, avoiding the “turbidity” of the palette mix or mixture of colors on the canvas.
