Seurat and the Sea

The Courtauld has assembled the first ever exhibition dedicated to the seascapes of the French artist Georges Seurat, Seurat and the Sea. This is a show for the ages; not only unique in theme, but also a first appearance for some of the paintings outside of their usual residence since they were acquired, not to mention that this is the first time the seascapes have been together since the artist died in 1891.

Due to his early death at the age of 31, Seurat has a very small collection of works, so exhibitions devoted to him are rare (in fact, this is the first in the UK in almost 30 years). Featuring 23 paintings, oil sketches and drawings made by Seurat during the five summers he spent on the northern coast of France between 1885 and 1890, the Courtauld showcases the bounty of the artist working in port towns along the English Channel, including Honfleur, Port-en-Bessin and Gravelines. During this time, Seurat captured their seascapes, regattas and port activity in his innovative and distinctive technique.

Left: Seurat, Le Bec du Hoc, Grandcamp, 1885, Tate purchased 1952 © Tate.
Right: Seurat, Seascape at Port-en-Bessin, Normandy, 1888, Gift of the W. Averell Harriman
Foundation in memory of Marie N. Harriman, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

The artist is generally acknowledged as the founder of Neo-Impressionism through the Pointillist technique, in which shapes and light are rendered by juxtaposing small dots of pure colour. However, it was his time at the coast that helped him define the light that he brought to his major works and that, in my opinion, make them great. He sought, in his words, “To wash his eyes of the days spent in the studio [in Paris] and to translate in the most faithful manner the bright clarity, in all its nuances”.

Seurat and the Sea charts the evolution of his radical and distinctive style through the recurring motif of the sea. The progression of the paintings over his five summers away from Paris illustrates how he refined Pointillism in terms of combining and mixing colours. His coastal paintings are an important counterpoint to his Parisian works, which are better known and more widely studied. This exhibition provides a unique opportunity to reassess an important but often overlooked aspect of Seurat’s career.

Left: Seurat, Port-en-Bessin, Outer Harbour Low Tide, 1888, Saint Louis Art Museum, Museum Purchase. Image Saint Louis Art Museum.
Right: Seurat, The Channel at Gravelines, Petit-Fort Philippe, 1890, Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields. Image Indianapolis Museum of Art.

Although he Courtauld holds the largest collection of his works in the UK, the exhibition includes loans from major private collections and public institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; the Baltimore Museum of Art; the Indianapolis Museum of Art; the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City; the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, the Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Tate and the National Gallery, London.

Seurat and the Sea
13 February – 17 May 2026
The Courtauld Gallery
Somerset House, Strand, London
More information and tickets, HERE.

Author: Andrew Hildreth

Lead image: Seurat, Extract of Entrance to the Port of Honfleur, 1886, Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia. Photo © 2025 Barnes Foundation. All rights reserved.

Other current exhibitions in the UK and in Europe recommended and reviewed by I-M Inquisitive Minds include Lucian Freud: From Drawing to Painting, National Portrait Gallery, London; Metamorphoses at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; and Pedagogies of War, at the Thyssen Bornemisza, Madrid.