Georges Lemmen

The technique of painting with tiny dots of color was introduced to the Impressionists by Georges Seurat in the mid-1880s. This quasi-scientific style, in which complementary and contrasting colors were used to create brilliant optical effects, was adopted by Belgian painter Georges Lemmen in this view of the River Thames. He constructed the image with layers of successively smaller points of pigment, altering their density to indicate distance and to distinguish physical properties. Clustering related hues, such as yellows and oranges, and mingling complementaries like reds and blues, he modeled solid forms and created luminous transitions from water to smoke to sky, rendering the industrial scene with subtle, atmospheric effect.