Georges Seurat’s The Forest at Pontaubert is an oil on canvas painting completed in 1881. The vibrant artwork illustrating a forest is exemplary of pointillism and Neo-Impressionism. Seurat spent two months in Pontaubert, a village southeast of Paris that once saw the presence of famous landscape painters like Daubigny and Corot. He sought to incorporate the reflections and steady nature of classical art while leaving behind the impromptu style of Impressionism.
Seurat spent months planning, sketching, and redrawing the painting, resulting in one of his earliest and most noteworthy masterpieces. The painting introduces colors and themes he employs in later well-known artworks. Forest at Pontaubert is located in Gallery 825 of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Overall, the Forest at Pontaubert is a great example of Seurat’s artistic skills in capturing the essence of a landscape while staying true to his principles of Neo-Impressionism.