a theory and technique developed by the neo-impressionists, based on the principle that juxtaposed dots of pure color, as blue and yellow, are optically mixed into the resulting hue, as green, by the viewer.
Origin: 1900–05; < F pointillisme, equiv. to pointill(er) to mark with points + -isme-ism
poin·til·lism (pwāɴ'tē-ĭz'əm, point'l-ĭz'-) n. A postimpressionist school of painting exemplified by Georges Seurat and his followers in late 19th-century France, characterized by the application of paint in small dots and brush strokes.
[French pointillisme, from pointiller, to paint small dots, stipple, from Old French *pointille, engraved with small dots, from point, point, from Latin pūnctum, from neuter past participle of pungere, to prick; see peuk- in Indo-European roots.] poin'til·list adj. & n.