“Radical Harmony: Neo-Impressionists” exhibition at the National Gallery - Part 2: Landscape and Portraits ✎

Note: This post is a continuation of part 1 of the “Radical Harmony: Neo-Impressionists” exhibition write-up of the National Gallery.

---

Gallery 4: Seurat’s Chahut

Helene Kröller-Muller purchased this iconic painting is 1922.

It is considered one of his masterpieces as it perfectly marries his scientific theory with the vibrant, gritty working-class nightlife of Montmartre.

Le Chahut by Georges Seurat (1889-1890)

It is beautifully stylised - dazzling and energetic, but it’s also slightly underwhelming.

The figures don’t actually look at each other; they stare out into the void with manufactured smiles.

Seurat’s work is entirely scientific and geometric - I much prefer the quiet sunlit home of a Dutch master. But hey-ho, it is important and I get it.

✲✲✲

Gallery 5: The “stillness and quiet calm” of Neo-Impressionism

The exhibition finally highlights painting in which the figures often appear isolated, focusing on introspection rather than interaction - esp. in depictions of domestic life by Signac and Rysselberghe.

✲✲✲

The Dining Room (or “Breakfast”), Opus 152 by Paul Signac (1886-1887)

While the earlier impressionist works were about capturing fleeting, joyful, and spontaneous moments of life, neo-impressionism often resulted in something much colder and more “calculated”. Made more discomforting by the rigid geometries. 

✲✲✲

“Sunday” by Paul Signac (1888-1890)

So many turned backs.

It’s striking that the husband has his back completely turned to his wife and she seems to refuses to engage.

Cat seems to be on edge too.

✲✲✲

In July - before noon or The orchard by Théo van Rysselberghe (1890)

Pure vibrating tranquility. Everyone is blended softly into the landscape.

✲✲✲

Woman reading in the sun (Jeanne Biart) by Henry van de Velde (1892)

The Belgian artist’s sister.

In his late twenties, van de Velde had grown frustrated with the slow, calculated, and mathematical dots of traditional pointillism. Heavily influenced by the recent discovery of Vincent van Gogh’s work, he adopted a frantic technique with a anxiety to it.

✲✲✲

Woman Reading by Henry van de Velde (1891)

The woman in the painting is not treated as a living, breathing human being with a distinct personality. 

Instead, van de Velde strips away any sense of intimacy, warmth or psychological depth.

✲✲✲

Gallery 6: Radical Landscape

Finally, the exhibition looks at how neo-impressionists used landscape painting to experiment with radical techniques that bridged observation and abstraction, ultimately influencing modern art.

✲✲✲

Coastal Scene by Théo van Rysselberghe (1892)

Mediterranean coast in southern France.

Wonderful luminous quality of light reflecting off the water.

✲✲✲

Beach at Vignasse by Henri-Edmond Cross (1891-1892)

Henri-Edmond Cross was a master of capturing the intense, shimmering and vibrating sunlight of the coast.

✲✲✲

Sun at noon (or Landscape with Haystacks) by Johan Thorn Prikker (1904)

Prikker shares a lot of artistic DNA with Vincent van Gogh’s iconic landscapes from the late 1880s and 1890.

Prikker paints the light expanding outward in concentric rings and energetic dashes, making the midday heat feel practically alive.

✲✲✲

Landscape with Haystack by Jan Vijlbrief (1894)

Stricter colour theories of optical mixing over the flowing expressive dashes of Prikker’s Sun at noon.

✲✲✲

Twilight by Henry van de Velde (1889)

✲✲✲

Shell Gatherer on the Beach by Jan Toorop (1891)

Jan Toorop had a wonderful ability to capture the atmosphere of the coast without letting the painting technique overpower the actual scene.

This and Looking at Sea (1887) show a fantastic approach to painting light and water that avoids feeling overly calculated.

✲✲✲

Sea by Jan Toorop (1887)

✲✲✲

The Channel at Gravelines, Evening by Georges Seurat (1890)

It truly is breathtaking! A poetic silence to this piece.

This painting is part of a famous trio. As below, The Channel at Gravelines, in the Direction of the Sea (1890) and The Channel of Gravelines, Grand Fort-Philippe (1890) were painted during the exact same summer trip to the French coast as this Evening painting.

Seurat actually painted a border directly onto the canvas using complementary colours.

The prominent anchor in the fore with an extreme colour contrast.

✲✲✲

The Channel at Gravelines, in the Direction of the Sea by Georges Seurat (1890)

The dots are so fine and delicate that they practically dissolve into pure sea air.

The Evening painting was about stillness in dark silhouettes, but this painting is entirely about the blazing, shimmering light of the coast.

✲✲✲

The Channel of Gravelines, Grand Fort-Philippe by Georges Seurat (1890)

✲✲✲

“Les Balises, Saint-Briac” by Paul Signac (1890)

✲✲✲