While the Pont-Aven artists often depicted the Breton people or countryside, images of the village itself are rare. Bernard painted this luminous, panoramic vista from the road above the local Bois d'Amour, or Woods of Love. His view of the rooftops of Pont-Aven is still easily recognizable today.

This canvas reflects Bernard's admiration for Paul Cézanne more than his attachment to the Pont-Aven style. He imitates Cézanne's parallel brush strokes and his device of suggesting perspective by placing a tree in the foreground.

Possibly to (Ambroise Vollard [1867-1939], Paris). Possibly by inheritance to Robert de Galea by 1939.{1} Possibly to Marquis de Bolln, Paris.{2} Purchased from (Galerie Nicole Bertagna, Paris), by Samuel Josefowitz in 1957; acquired as a partial gift, partial purchase by the IMA in 1998.

{1}See Josefowitz inventory card, copy in IMA Provenance file (1998.174), where "de Galliav" surely means Robert de Galea, son of Vollard's mistress, Chrétien de Galea. Following Vollard's death in July 1939, the collection was divided between Robert de Galea and Vollard's brother Lucien.
{2}See Josefowitz inventory card, copy in IMA Provenance file (1998.174).