Breton Peasant Women
Artist: Paul Gauguin
Year: 1888
Eugene Henri Paul Gauguin was a French painter with a post-Impressionist style influenced by Picasso, Matisse, and more. His work often contained symbolism like primitive art. He was born in 1848 and was ahead of his time. His fame didn't come until after his death, which occurred in 1903.
1954 Commentary by John Rewald:
GAUGUIN DEFINITELY ABANDONED his Impressionist style in 1888 and adopted his Synthetist form of expression. His canvas of Breton Peasant Women is typical evidence of this evolution. The colors are still rather soft; they were soon to become much more outspoken and clashing. The brush strokes are still reminiscent of gentle Impressionist hatchings, which favor subtle gradations of tone; they were soon to be replaced by large, flat planes of uniform color. The composition, however, already shows a concern with decorative patterns that was alien to the Impressionists.
Gauguin at first was apparently attracted by the idyllic quality of Breton landscapes and the picturesque costumes of the peasants. It was only somewhat later that his will to stylize prompted him to turn his back more and more on the amiable aspects of Brittany in order to emphasize the savageness of its nature and the mysticism of its inhabitants which he discovered beneath its lovely appearance. In depicting these four women in their characteristic headdresses, conversing over a low wall of field stones such as crisscross the meadows in Brittany, the artist has captured a quiet mood and at the same time taken full advantage of the decorative possibilities of his subject. Doubtless painted indoors from sketches made on the spot, Gauguin’s canvas already betrays his intention to go beyond fleeting impressions in order to retain the essential nature of his surroundings.
Although this painting is signed in the lower left, P. Gauguin 86, it is generally agreed that it cannot have been executed before his trip to Martinique. It must have been done in 1888, a year from which several similar works also date.
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