London’s Courtauld Gallery is set to shine a new light on the work of French master Georges Seurat with the opening of a landmark exhibition devoted entirely to his seascapes. Running from
13 February to 17 May 2026, the show marks the first exhibition in the United Kingdom in nearly three decades dedicated to the influential artist.
Titled 'The Griffin Catalyst Exhibition: Seurat and the Sea', the exhibition gathers 26 works—including paintings, oil sketches, and drawings—making it the largest collection of Seurat’s coastal scenes ever assembled. Together, these works trace the evolution of Seurat’s distinctive artistic vision and offer visitors a rare opportunity to explore an often overlooked dimension of his career.
Seurat is widely celebrated for pioneering a groundbreaking painting technique using tiny dots of pure colour, an approach that would later become known as Neo-Impressionism. While his urban scenes of leisure in Paris are among his most famous works, this exhibition focuses on a quieter and more contemplative subject: the sea.
Between 1885 and 1890, Seurat made five summer journeys to the northern coast of France. During these trips he produced a remarkable series of coastal studies, capturing harbours, ports, and expansive sea views. The exhibition reunites, for the first time, works created during these travels, including the complete series painted in Port-en-Bessin in 1888 and Gravelines in 1890, both considered highlights of the artist’s output.
Working in locations such as 'Grandcamp, Honfleur, Port-en-Bessin, Le Crotoy, and Gravelines', Seurat explored the subtle interplay of light, atmosphere, and open space. Unlike his bustling Parisian scenes, many of these coastal images are notably devoid of people, presenting tranquil horizons and quiet harbour landscapes. For Seurat, the coast offered an escape from the confines of the studio and a chance to reconnect with nature.
He once described the experience as a way to “cleanse one’s eyes of the days spent in the studio and translate, as faithfully as possible, the bright light in all its nuances.” The seascapes became a laboratory for refining his innovative techniques and understanding the effects of light and colour in natural environments.
Because Seurat died at just 31 years old, his body of work remains relatively small, making exhibitions devoted to him a rare event. Interestingly, despite his reputation as a painter of modern urban life, he created more paintings of the Channel coast than any other subject during his brief career.
The exhibition brings together loans from leading museums and collections across Europe, the United States, and Australia, underscoring the international importance of these works.
Due to high demand, the Courtauld Gallery has announced extended opening hours every Friday evening until 8pm during the exhibition run. Late-night tickets will first be available to Courtauld Members from 13 February, with public sales opening on 16 February.
'Seurat and the Sea' continues the gallery’s tradition of staging major exhibitions devoted to Impressionist and Post-Impressionist masters. Previous shows focusing on Van Gogh and Monet attracted record audiences, drawing tens of thousands of visitors.
Accompanying the exhibition is a richly illustrated catalogue presenting new research on Seurat’s coastal paintings and examining their significance within his artistic legacy.
With its rare reunions of paintings and fresh insights into one of art history’s most innovative figures, 'The Griffin Catalyst Exhibition: Seurat and the Sea' promises to be one of London’s most anticipated art events of 2026. Photo by Stephen Richards, Wikimedia commons.