«Immerse yourself in Seurat's paintings and you will suddenly
find the work of Impressionism's main proponents - such as
Monet, Sisley and Pissarro - all too smug.»
Wilhelm Genazino

Georges Seurat in the Kunsthaus Zürich is an event, as well as an opportunity, since the most original of the masters of Pointillism is scarcely represented in Europe's museums. Among the fathers of modern art, Seurat was only 31 years old when he died. He left behind a scanty oeuvre, of which the best works are only seldom to be seen at traveling exhibitions. The Kunsthaus has assembled some 70 of these paintings and drawings, on loan for a limited time only from the world's key public and private collections, for its 'Figures in Space' show. Featuring motifs such as strollers by the Seine, acrobats under the big top, and gardeners at work, they attest to Seurat's wide range of subjects and compositional excellence and explain how this contemporary of Cézanne's and van Gogh's was able to set himself apart from his colleagues.
Seurat brought a scientific precision to bear on Impressionist painting. Where there had been nothing but light and atmosphere he introduced rational dialogues between figures and the space surrounding them, fascinating many painters of his cohort, foremost among them van Gogh and Gauguin, with his choice of colours and Pointillist technique. The artists of the Bauhaus were later to rave about his unusual compositions and his application of geometry to figures and landscapes alike.
Unlike any other among the many hangers-on of the Impressionist school, Seurat exerted considerable influence on art and its reception alike. Visitors to the exhibition are afforded an extraordinary opportunity to make instructive comparisons of his paintings, oil studies and drawings.