Francesco Poli roams the streets of Paris in the company of Seurat and some of the most fascinating people of his time, painting a careful portrait of this well-loved "lone wolf" painter.
Tall and strong, with dark hair and a carefully groomed beard, always dressed in dark blue or black. His friend Charles Angrand compares him to Donatello’s St George. A calm, reserved and thoughtful man, he could also be proud and obstinate, prone to melancholy, with an ironic and sarcastic vein that lead Degas to nickname him “the notary”. To understand Seurat one has to dive below the surface. His life is a captivating enigma that goes beyond his art and is worth exploring and analysing in depth. This search will bring to light a surprising side to the painter’s life and even some slightly disturbing secrets. ” This book plans to shed light on the painter’s intimate life. Some call it “the Seurat mystery”. Without going that far one can’t deny the slight sense of unease that surfaces when we observe his art, or the unusual difficulties we face when researching his life. Seurat’s Paris comes to life in the pages of Francesco Poli’s book, following in the footsteps of “the notary” who seems so out of place in the dazzling city, so close and yet so far from the riveting artistic scene that will make the Ville Lumière famous worldwide. Francesco Poli roams the streets of Paris in the company of Seurat and of some of the most fascinating people of his time, painting a careful portrait of this well-loved “lone wolf” painter.