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Calmness of tone is given by an equivalence of light and dark of color by an equivalence of warm and cold and of line, by horizontals.

Gaiety of tone is given by the dominance of light of color, by the dominance of warmth of line, by lines above the horizontal. Seurat defined three main expressive tools at the painter’s disposal: color (the hues of the spectrum, from warm to cool), tone (the value of those colors, from light to dark), and line (horizontal, vertical, ascending, or descending). The Neo-Impressionists also attempted to systematize the emotional qualities conveyed by their paintings. Scholars have debated whether the composition is based on the Golden Section, a geometric ratio that was identified by ancient Greek mathematicians as being inherently harmonious. It is dominated by horizontal and vertical lines, and the just slightly off-rhythmic spacing of the figures and architectural structure creates a syncopated grid. Seurat’s Parade de cirque is even more rigorously geometrical. Georges Seurat, Parade de cirque, 1887-88, oil on canvas, 99.7 x 149.9 cm (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) It was this technique of painting in tiny dots (“points” in French) that gave Neo-Impressionism the popular nickname “Pointillism” although the artists generally avoided that term since it suggested a stylistic gimmick. Viewed from a distance these flecks blend together to help lighten and warm the green, as we would expect when grass is struck by the yellow-orange light of the afternoon sun.

Seurat intersperses the overall field of yellow greens with flecks of warm cream, olive greens, and yellow ochre (actually discolored chrome yellow).

For example, examine the grass in the sun. More subtle color variations were produced by “optical mixture” rather than mixing paint on the palette. Above all, the Neo-Impressionists would not mix colors opposite on the color wheel (“ complementary colors”), because doing so results in muddy browns and dull grays. These colors could be mixed only with white or with a color adjacent on the color wheel (called “ analogous colors”), for example to make lighter, yellower greens or darker, redder violets. One of these rules was to use only the “pure” colors of the spectrum: violet, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red.