Pointillism, in art, a late 19th-century method of painting, consisting of depositing small dots or strokes of pure color on the canvas. Seen from a distance, these "points" blend and give the effect of a different color and heightened luminosity. The style, a development of impressionist color theories, was originated by the French painters Georges Seurat and Paul Signac.

For a brief period in the 1880s Pissarro was drawn to a new technique, an outgrowth of impressionism developed by Georges Seurat, known as divisionism or pointillism. Seurat and his neoimpressionist followers modified the loose brushstrokes characteristic of impressionist style into precise dots of pure pigment, juxtaposing tiny areas of complementary colors on the canvas surface. Seurat's theories were derived from his readings in 19th-century scientific and aesthetic texts on color. The result of his painstaking technique is supremely visible in one of his most spectacular works, Sunday Afternoon on the Island of the Grande Jatte (1884-1886, Art Institute of Chicago).

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"Pointillism," Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 98 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.