An April Boat Ride: Théo van Rysselberghe

Can’t get enough of Pointillism? Neither can I. I am absolutely fascinated by the visual impact of this painting technique, especially with the many contemporary versions of the style. I just know that, as a painter, I am too lazy to attempt such a time-consuming practice. Théo van Rysselberghe even painted the frame, as Georges Seurat (1859–1891) did with many of his works.

Théo van Rysselberghe (1862–1926, Belgium), The Port of Sète, 1892. Oil on canvas, 21 7⁄16 x 26" (54.5 x 66 cm). © 2025 The Museum of Modern Art, New York. (MOMA-P0544)

Rysselberghe began painting in a Pointillist manner in 1888. He quickly forged a close and enduring friendship with Paul Signac (1863–1935), one of the movement's most vocal adherents. In 1892, the year that The Port de Seté was painted, Rysselberghe was at the height of his powers as a Neo-Impressionist. He was convinced that the style was the most logical way to depict light and color.

The Port de Seté was executed in April of 1892 during a trip that Rysselberghe and Signac took to the south of France aboard Olympia, the latter's yacht. Like Signac and Seurat, Rysselberghe had an abiding love for painting the reflections in depictions of water, for which the Pointillist technique was well-suited.

Like most major art movements grounded in strict theories, Impressionism ran its course as a ground-breaking art movement between the 1870s and the 1880s. By that time, some artists turned away from the limited theory of Impressionism, which neglected psychological depth and emotional involvement in the work of art. Post-Impressionists rejected the momentary, detached mood of Impressionism that emphasized the technical aspect of the work of art rather than the subject.

Post-Impressionists reinvested subject matter with importance by using it as the focal point of studies in what the very nature of subject and composition should be. Of the many strains of Post-Impressionism, Neo-Impressionism involved a younger group of artists who sought to unite the technical emphasis on color and light of Impressionism with a vision grounded in science and the study of optics. In the view of the Neo-Impressionists, the movement was the logical successor to Impressionism. Under the leadership of Seurat, artists painted in the distinctive Divisionist, or Pointillist, technique of small, uniform dots of pure color painstakingly placed side by side.

Rysselberghe was born in Ghent, Belgium. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent in an academic, conservative curriculum. He also studied at the Academy in Brussels, where he received a scholarship to travel to Spain in 1881. For a year, he traveled in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. In Tangier, Morocco, he was enchanted by the brilliant light and its effects on local color of objects.

In 1883, back in Belgium, Rysselberghe was one of the co-founders of the avant-garde group Les XX, which shared similar aesthetic ideals as the Impressionists. Les XX, like the Impressionists in France, formed a counterpoint to the conservative strictures of the Belgian art academies. In 1886, Rysselberghe went to Paris, where he met the Impressionists and Neo-Impressionists. He was particularly struck by Seurat's A Sunday on La Grande Jatte – 1884, the pivotal Pointillist work. From then on, Rysselberghe abandoned realism in favor of Pointillism.

Georges Seurat, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte – 1884, 1884–1886, border added 1888–1889. Oil on canvas, 81 ¾" x 121 ¼" (207.5 x 308.1 cm). © 2025 Art Institute of Chicago, Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection. (AIC-7349)

Moving to Paris in 1897, Rysselberghe not only continued painting in the Neo-Impressionist Pointillist technique, but also designed interiors, jewelry, and posters. By 1903 and the advent of Expressionism as seen in the Fauves, Rysselberghe ultimately abandoned Pointillism in favor of larger brushstrokes and a stronger, more powerful palette.

Correlations to Davis programs: Explorations in Art 2E Grade 2: 1.5, 1.7; Explorations in Art 2E Grade 4: 1.5; Explorations in Art 2E Grade 6: 2.3; A Global Pursuit 2E: 7.4; Experience Painting: p. 68; Discovering Art History 4E: 13.2