Adventures in Art History Art Adventures    

Lesson 32: Sunday at Port-en-Bessin

by Georges-Pierre Seurat

Directions

Study the painting for one week.

Over the week:

• Look at the painting.
• Read the synopsis.
• Study the vocabulary words.
• Read about the artist.
• Practice reciting the names of the artist and the painting.
• Complete the enrichment activities.
• Study the review questions.

Synopsis

Georges Seurat often ventured to the coast to paint in the summertime. Port-en-Bessin is a small village on the Normandy coast. Normandy is a coastal region in northern France, just north of Paris, abutting the English Channel. 'Port-en-Bessin, un dimanche (Sunday at Port-en-Bessin)' features a view of a harbor. Several blue, white, and red French flags whip in the sea breeze over a collection of sailing vessels. People stroll on a bridge over the water in the distance. Seurat employed pointillism to create this painting.

Vocabulary

Pointillism: A technique of painting using tiny dots of colors, which blend in the viewer's eye.
Village: A group of houses and buildings in a rural area.
Harbor: A place on the coast where vessels may find shelter from rough waters.
Vessel: A ship or large boat.

Concepts

Georges-Pierre Seurat painted 'Sunday at Port-en-Bessin.'

1. Georges Seurat was born in 1859, in Paris, France. See his picture below.

2. Find Seurat's country of birth on the map of Europe below.

3. Seurat pioneered the painting technique of pointillism. In pointillism, artists apply many small dots of color close together such that they blend together when viewed from a distance.
4. In 1891, Seurat died at the age of 31 of an unknown illness in Paris.

Enrichment

Activity 1: Can You Find It?

During the week, study the painting and find the following:

• Flags
• Boats
• Bridge Over the Water
• Buildings
• Water
• Sky
• Clouds
• People

Activity 2: Narrate the Painting

• After studying the painting, narrate the scene shown in the painting aloud using your own words.

Activity 3: Complete Vocabulary Activities

• While studying the vocabulary words, point them out in the painting.
• Define each of the vocabulary words in your own words.

Activity 4: Use the Painting Technique

• One day this week, make a picture entirely out of dots.
• Recite the word pointillism a couple of times while making the picture to cement the term.

Activity 5: Color the Painting   

• Click the crayon above, and complete page 41 of 'Kindergarten Art History Coloring Book.'

Review

Question 1

What is the setting of the painting?

1 / 3

Answer 1

Outdoors at a sea port.

1 / 3

Question 2

How many flags do you see?

2 / 3

Answer 2

At least eight.

2 / 3

Question 3

Does the painting show a calm day or a windy day? How do you know?

3 / 3

Answer 3

It is a windy day. The flags are flying in the wind.

3 / 3

❮ ❯

1. What is the setting of the painting? Outdoors at a sea port.
2. How many flags do you see? At least eight.
3. Does the painting show a calm day or a windy day? How do you know? It is a windy day. The flags are flying in the wind.

References

'Georges-Pierre Seurat.' Wikipedia. Wikipedia.org. n.p.