Narrator: Take a close look at this work. What do you notice first? A beautiful seaside landscape or lots of colorful dots?
Try this: Walk a little closer to the painting, but not too close.
Look at the beach. Can you name the different colors of paint the artist used to make it?
Now, slowly step backwards, away from the painting, but make sure no one’s behind you. What’s changed?
From a distance, your eyes start to blend all the colored dots together, allowing you to see the shapes and forms.
Kind of like the way you see real sand. Have you ever picked up a handful of sand and really looked at the different grains? They are all slightly different colors, but from far away, they blend together to make one color.
The artist Georges Seurat made this picture by layering thousands of tiny dots and short strokes of different colored paint.
Now, can you tell what time of day this is? Look closely at the sky for clues.
He gave the sky and clouds a purplish–pinkish tint that you sometimes see at sunset. The beach is dark, like it’s in shadow.
Before you go, look at the paintings next to this one. What’s different about this frame?
The artist painted it himself! Share this secret with your grown–up!