Au Bord Du Village 

Georges Seurat created this landscape painting, Au Bord Du Village, with oil paint on canvas. He has clearly spent time considering how the application of paint can generate certain visual effects. Seurat was a meticulous craftsman, known for his pointillist technique. This involved building up an image from thousands of tiny, distinct dots of color, methodically applied. This painting is not as refined as some of his other pointillist works, but one can still see how each small dab of pigment contributes to the overall effect. There is a real tension here between the precision of the technique and the more free-flowing brushwork. The effect is quite remarkable. The paint surface shimmers with light, and the landscape seems to vibrate with life. There is an optical mixing of colors that occurs in the viewer's eye, which means we are actively participating in the painting's creation. Seurat elevates the status of craft through his attention to the painting process, inviting us to look closely and consider the labor involved in creating such a unique and captivating work of art.