pointillism

[ pwan-tl-iz-uhm, -tee-iz-, poin-tl-iz- ]

noun

, (sometimes initial capital letter)

1. a theory and technique developed by the neo-impressionists, based on the principle that juxtaposed dots of pure color, as blue and yellow, are optically mixed into the resulting hue, as green, by the viewer.

pointillism

/ -tiːˌɪzəm; ˈpwæntɪˌlɪzəm; ˈpɔɪn- /

noun

1. the technique of painting elaborated from impressionism, in which dots of unmixed colour are juxtaposed on a white ground so that from a distance they fuse in the viewer's eye into appropriate intermediate tones Also calleddivisionism

Derived Forms

• ˈpointillist, nounadjective

Other Words From

• pointil·list noun adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of pointillism¹

1900–05; < French pointillisme, equivalent to pointill ( er ) to mark with points + -isme -ism

Word History and Origins

Origin of pointillism¹

C19: from French, from pointiller to mark with tiny dots, from pointille little point, from Italian puntiglio, from punto point

Example Sentences

In these landscapes, naturalism and abstraction often battle to a pulsating draw by means of a magnified, or coarsened pointillism that recalls Seurat in its mosaic-like array of dots, dashes and commas.

From New York Times

The paintings, done in a pointillism style, shimmered with the high-contrast pop of a flash photo or an instant Polaroid.

From Washington Post

In “Colors of Summer,” Stream captures the avian residents of our region with pointillism and symbolism, drawing on his Sun’Aq Aleut ancestry.

From Seattle Times

Your notes at the end of the novel mention your method of “narrative pointillism.“

From Los Angeles Times

Larrimore remixes half a dozen French painting styles, chiefly pointillism, to make her otherworldly garden scenes.

From New York Times