Michelle Foa Lecture
"To Paint In Depth: Seurat, Monet, Helmholtz,
and the Art of Visual Perception"

Tuesday, December 1, 2009
5pm, Room 402 Claudia Cohen Hall

Few artists are as closely associated with the subject of visual perception as the Neo-Impressionist Georges Seurat. Yet the precise nature of Seurat’s interest in perception remains a surprisingly underexplored topic in art history. This lecture will suggest a specific scientific and philosophical context for interpreting Seurat’s work, namely, the writings of one of the nineteenth century’s most important scientists of optics, Hermann von Helmholtz. Analyzing the work of Seurat in relation to Helmholtz, and comparing his work to that of the leading Impressionist artist Claude Monet, will help us understand Seurat’s paintings as a remarkable exploration of how we come to make sense of the world around us.

Seurat, Port-en-Bessin, le pont et les quais, 1888