The Channel at Gravelines, in the Direction of the Sea 1890

Editor: Here we have Georges Seurat’s "The Channel at Gravelines, in the Direction of the Sea," painted in 1890. The oil on canvas depicts a calm harbor scene. There’s something very serene about it, almost static. All those little dots…it's a bit like the world is holding its breath. What strikes you most when you look at this piece? Curator: Oh, the dots! I think about Seurat carefully placing each one. It wasn’t just about replicating a scene, but constructing a sensation, almost scientific in his approach to impressionism, wouldn't you say? It reminds me of pointillism: A rebellion against fleeting impressions in favor of something a bit more structured. It also invites us to meditate upon the ordinary, a dockyard – what is he really pointing us towards? Editor: Structure… that’s a good word for it. I see the rebellion. What do you mean? It is true that Seurat took his work outdoors... I thought pointillism, rather than being something that takes it to an almost laboratory controlled area? Curator: Well, on the one hand he is using a new scientific approach to develop pointillism in an artistic style that brings mathematical structures. On the other hand, this scene – and pointillism as a way of depicting it – allows him to really emphasize the formal elements. It's about form, stillness and space, about light playing across surfaces… things that feel so concrete and universal in the French psyche. Like the feeling is actually in the small changes within light? Don’t you agree? Editor: Definitely, that stillness communicates a particular sensation. I now think that I see what is unique with what Seurat created and what distinguishes him! Curator: Absolutely! I think for me it's like a fresh lens – a different angle from what my initial understanding had told me, I was also somewhat surprised with what Seurat intended to reveal to the world.