Radical Harmony

Helene Kröller-Müller's Neo-Impressionists 

at The National Gallery until 8 February 

Helene Kröller-Müller was arguably the first great female collector of the 20th Century, and she built up one of the finest collections of Neo-Impressionist art. The technique might not sound familiar, but that is because it is often known by another name: Pointillism. 

In English this is a misnomer. The technique is well known: painting with different coloured dots, an idea invented and championed by Georges Seurat. He may have called his individual dabs of paint 'points', but he did so in French, and 'dots' would be a better translation. 'Dot-ism' would sound a little absurd...  

Seurat's aim was to separate the colours, as when he mixed different paints he thought they looked muddier: maybe, if the bright colours were applied separately, they would blend in the eye, and keep the freshness and light they had when fresh. As a result of the division of brush strokes - or dabs - into different colours, the technique can also be called 'Divisionism'. However, the term 'Neo-Impressionism' is perhaps better still. Seurat and his followers wanted to observe the effects of light and colour which fascinated the Impressionists themselves, but to do so in a new way. And he had many followers: his ideas spread across the world, drawing in artists such as Vincent van Gogh, Paul Signac, Anna Boch, and Henri-Edmond Cross. Combined with their new approach to mark making, many of them also used their art to express radical political ideas.

It is these combination - of technical novelty and social engagement - which the exhibition at The National Gallery explores, and in the course of this 75 minute talk we will track the spread of Neo-Impressionism across Europe, exploring the exhibition thoroughly in the process.