"Get drunk on light" - Neoimpressionism: A new way of seeing

At the end of the nineteenth century, certain young European painters, including Georges Seurat, Paul Signac, Anna Boch and Jan Toorop, developed new forms of making art that moved away from Impressionism and towards practices informed by scientific developments in optics and colour theory. Close-up, paintings by Seurat seem to dissolve into complex patterns of coloured dots that gave rise to the term "pointiliism" to describe them. "Neoimpressionism" is another; neither one is very helpful. What can look like a technical trick is in fact a way of thinking about how we perceive the world - an idea that felt urgent at a time of dramatic social change. Built on close and slow looking at the works in question, this study day will make the case for works by these artists as models of thinking about one's place in the modern world, a theme that never goes out of date. Designed to coincide with the National Gallery's exhibition of neoimpressionism from the collection of Helene Kröller-Müller in Holland, this Art Pursuits Lecture day will also consider her role as a major collector of these works who revolutionised the display of paintings.

This Lecture is held at the Art Workers' Guild in Queen Square London.

TIMETABLE FOR THE DAY

10.30-11.00 Welcome refreshments

11:00-12:00 – Lecture 1

12:00- 12.30 Refreshments

12:30-13:30 – Lecture 2

13:30-14:30 – Lunch

14:30-15:30 Lecture 3