Georges Seurat (1859–1891)
1890
Oil paint on canvas
Gravelines, summer 1890
Just a small section of Gravelines offered Georges Seurat the views he used in his four paintings of the town. His favoured site was the area where the channel widened slightly as it reached the sea, allowing boats to moor – a recess most visible in this painting. Although Seurat’s Gravelines compositions are full of detail, it was his rendering of light that captivated early admirers. His friend and fellow Neo-Impressionist Paul Signac remarked of these works, ‘you don’t feel the technique at all. All the awkward aspects of the craft disappear and only the benefit of light and harmony remains… This type of painting does not need bright light since it creates its own.’