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Seurat made use of the same subjects and bright colors as the Impressionists, but he did not imitate their technique. He was more interested in the formal structure and clear design of his paintings. He spent his life studying color theories scientifically and analytically and the effects of different linear structures. Then he used his finding for artistic purposes. He discovered that one color looks different each time it is placed next to another color.

Seurat developed divisionism, mostly known as pointillism, the technique of placing bright colors on the canvas in small dots. When seen from a distance, the tiny dots of paint seem to merge and suggest other colors. Seurat did his paintings by applying thousands of tiny dots, instead of mixing tints or shades on his palette, our eyes did the work.

Seurat was working on “The Circus” at the time of his death in 1891. He was thirty-one but in his short career he completed seven monumental paintings, sixty smaller ones more than five-hundred drawings. He kept his private life very secret.

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