10 reasons to visit 'Radical Harmony: Helene Kröller-Müller's Neo-Impressionists'

Explore the outstanding collection of art collector Helene Kröller-Müller (1869‒1939) in the National Gallery’s first-ever exhibition dedicated to Neo-Impressionism. 

From 1912, Kröller-Müller started collecting these then contemporary artworks, and created what remains the world's greatest collection of Neo-Impressionist painting. She was also one of the first people to see genius in artists like Vincent van Gogh. 

Her collection now lives at the Kröller-Müller Museum in the Netherlands. For the first time, many of the museum’s highlight paintings will travel to London, where they will be reunited with Neo-Impressionist works from around the world, including from our own collection.

In this exhibition, you’ll witness the impressive works of Georges Seurat, Paul Signac, Van Gogh and other world-famous artists under one roof.

Some, like Seurat and Signac, were leaders of the Neo-Impressionist movement. They painted vibrant works in a radical new style now known as pointillism, though the artists themselves rejected this term. Others, like Van Gogh, tried their hand at this highly innovate technique after meeting and being inspired by its leading painters.

Step into this groundbreaking moment in art history through some of the greatest artists that lived through and interacted with it.  

The Neo-Impressionists used radical techniques to create their artworks.

They painted in small dots of pure colour, believing these touches would blend in the eye when viewed from a distance. Inspired by scientific theories of colour, they also placed complementary shades side by side on the canvas to intensify the brightness of their paintings.

Some critics at the time described it as the death of painting. Seurat, the pioneer of this technique, enjoyed using structured methods in his artwork. He once declared, ‘Some say they see Poetry in my paintings; I see only science.’

Connect the dots for yourself as you learn about the colour theory that inspired the Neo-Impressionists' artwork.

‘Chahut’ (1889–90) is the greatest Neo-Impressionist painting collected by Kröller-Müller, and one of Seurat’s most important works.  

It was one of the artist's ‘toiles de luttes’ (battle canvases), the phrase Seurat used to refer to his most provocative manifesto pictures. ‘Chahut’ was the last such painting he finished before his untimely death in 1891, aged 31.  

It is a highly stylised depiction of the ‘chahut’ – the ‘can-can’ – then the most risqué dance performed in Paris. Don’t miss its very first visit to the UK on the first occasion it has been lent since 1958.

Many Neo-Impressionists shared an interest in anarcho-communism – a political movement which championed the rights of working people. In this exhibition, you’ll experience the revolutionary spirit of radical artists like Maximilien Luce through their politically charged works.

Against the backdrop of an increasingly industrialised age, other Neo-Impressionists painted the struggles of the working class in moving detail, or conveyed an idealised vision of social harmony. See their artworks for yourself as you move through the exhibition.

The Neo-Impressionists were often influenced by each others work and many were close friends.

Artists like Jan Toorop, Boch and Signac sat for portraits by fellow Neo-Impressionists. By bringing these portraits back together, this exhibition presents a unique opportunity to reunite old friends and for viewers to 'meet' these artists face-to-face.

Many of the paintings in the exhibition also show domestic scenes and portraits of the artists' relatives and members of their circle, bringing a further personal touch to the exhibition