Georges Seurat treated painting as a science, controlling every millimeter of his canvases with formulas drawn from optics and color theory, while keeping a secret family hidden from even his closest friends. He died at 31, yet left behind one of the most recognizable paintings in the world. This episode looks past the dots to examine the mind behind them. We start with a wealthy Paris childhood shaped by a father who lived apart and visited once a week, a rigorous academic education at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, and two years spent drawing only in monochrome with Conte crayon before he allowed himself to tackle color.

We then follow the rejection of Bathers at Asnieres by the Paris Salon, the founding of the Societe des Artistes Independants with no jury and no awards, and his deep reading of chemist Michel-Eugene Chevreul and physicist Ogd ...