Georges-Pierre Seurat

Grey weather, Grande Jatte
Painted 1888''

Seurat was the innovator of pointillism as a style of painting. His most famous works include Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (French: Un dimande après-midi à l'Ile de la Grand Jatte).

He studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1878 and 1879. While at the institute, the young Seurat was inspired by the works of Rembrandt and Francisco de Goya.

After a year of military service, Seurat returned to Paris in 1880, started off sharing a confined studio on the Left Bank with two student friends before moving to a studio of his own. For the next two years, he devoted himself to mastering the art of black and white drawing. He spent 1883 on a huge canvas, Bathing at Asnieres, his first major painting.

He later moved away from Boulevard de Clichy to a quieter studio nearby, where secretly he lived with a young model, Madeleine Knobloch. In February 1890, she gave birth to his son. It was not until two days before his death that he introduced his young family to his mother.

He died at the age of 31 of diphtheria.

Today, a painting by Georges Seurat can sell for over $50 million dollars.

Seurat was interred in Le Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris, France.