Léon Pourtau

Léon Pourtau completed his training as a professional clarinettist and worked both as an orchestral musician and as a teacher. However, painting was his passion: through his friend Georges Seurat, he was introduced into the neo-Impressionist style and subsequently created his own paintings of beach scenes and seascapes using the pointillist technique. Compared to his teacher, he adhered less strictly to the scientifically based concept of Divisionism, according to which the pure colours placed next to one another in the image were to unite together into a harmonious overall impression in the viewer’s perception. His paintings are also distinguished from Seurat’s by their more muted palette. In 1895 Pourtau set off on a two-year concert tour of the United States, which was to render him financially independent and to enable him to concentrate on his painting after his return. However, a shipwreck during his return voyage to France ended his short life: only posthumously did his limited painted oeuvre became known to the public.