The National Gallery in London is currently hosting a groundbreaking exhibition that explores the radical world of Pointillism through one of the most significant art collections ever assembled. The centerpiece of the exhibition is Georges Seurat's "Le Chahut," a masterwork that appears from a distance to resemble a classic 1930s French poster but reveals itself to be composed of hundreds of thousands of tiny dots when viewed up close.
Pointillism emerged as one of several revolutionary artistic styles during the transformative 30-40 year period around the turn of the 19th century, fundamentally changing the landscape of painting. Interestingly, the artists who pioneered this technique despised the term "Pointillism" itself. The core principle behind this innovative approach involved placing tiny dots of pure color directly onto the canvas rather than mixing colors on a palette. For example, instead of blending blue and yellow paints to create green, artists would apply separate blue and yellow dots that would optically merge to form green when viewed from an appropriate distance.
While Pointillism may have faded from popular consciousness today, its influence remains pervasive in modern technology. The technique underpins much of contemporary color printing, which uses microscopic dots of three primary colors to create the thousands of hues we see on printed pages. Unlike modern printers that use dots too small for the human eye to detect individually, Pointillist artists deliberately showcased their technique, making the dots visible as an integral part of the artwork itself.
The exhibition draws primarily from the remarkable collection of Helene Kröller-Müller, the daughter of a wealthy industrialist who dedicated her fortune to acquiring art. She not only displayed much of her collection for public enjoyment but also donated the entire collection to the Dutch government shortly before her death. This unified collection, bound together by technique rather than subject matter, creates a diverse exhibition that ranges from intimate portraits to sweeping landscapes to overtly political works.
Several politically charged paintings in the collection address contemporary social issues of their time. Some works depict the before-and-after effects of labor strikes, created during an era when participating in such actions could literally be fatal for workers. One particularly striking piece shows laborers working in an iron foundry, painted in a style reminiscent of Communist propaganda art. Ironically, this painting was displayed without apparent irony in the office of Helene's husband, who managed the family's iron ore business.
The exhibition features intriguing domestic scenes as well, including a painting of a middle-class family at breakfast that catches visitors' attention due to an unusual detail: the man is already wearing a smoking jacket and hat while holding a cigar stub, raising questions about his early morning habits. London residents will particularly appreciate several paintings depicting the industrial Thames River, offering a historical perspective on the city's waterway.
One of the most fascinating aspects of the collection is how monochrome paintings often appear more detailed than their colorful counterparts, as if the removal of color reveals details that vibrant hues might otherwise obscure. The exhibition concludes with works that demonstrate the evolution of artistic movements, including a painting of a woman sewing that shows how the structured approach of Pointillism began to give way to the more fluid and organic Art Nouveau movement.
This exhibition represents a rare opportunity for art enthusiasts to experience a significant portion of the Helene Kröller-Müller collection without traveling to the Netherlands, where it is permanently housed. The inclusion of "Le Chahut" is particularly significant, as this masterpiece has not left the Netherlands in approximately 40 years, making its presence in London especially noteworthy.
"Radical Harmony: Helene Kröller-Müller's Neo-Impressionists" will remain at the National Gallery through early February 2026. Tickets are available at varying prices: standard admission costs $27, concessions are priced at $25, visitors under 18 can enter free of charge, and Art Fund members receive a discounted rate of $13.50.
