by DR. R. A. WEALE , Reader in Physiological Optics, London University
Pointillism was based on scientific principles: Seurat. its chief exponent, tried to produce a heightened sensation of light in painting, but three years after his death in 1891 his theory was undermined.
Recent experiments on the eye of the goldfish - and the human eye - suggest that the difficulties which Seurat's contemporaries had with his paintings are not aesthetic but stemmed from the way in which we see colours.
(R. A. Weale on . Italian Mannerism - a Break in Perspective ': 22 November)