The inventive young painter Emile Bernard met Paul Gauguin at the Breton artists' colony of Pont-Aven in August 1888. Together they forged an aesthetic based on the belief that artists should interpret nature according to their imaginations. Emphasizing the expressive potential of color, line, and pattern that became hallmarks of the Pont-Aven School, they created dynamic works distinguished by at forms, rolling contours, and brilliant hues.
This canvas, which Bernard painted from memory in Paris in 1892, is one of his most ambitious compositions. The Breton man and women are boldly flattened, reflecting the artist's attraction to the stylized figures of Japanese prints. Bernard's use of dark outlines accentuates their two-dimensionality and enhances the surface pattern. Further, the placement of the figures reveals Bernard's willingness to defy traditional rules of scale and perspective. The powerful colors are chosen for effect rather than accuracy, and even their distribution-as indicated by the arbitrary change from green to golden orange in the painting's upper register, bows to the artist's judgment. Like Gauguin, Bernard cherished Brittany and its people, from the lace collars and coifs of their costumes to the stone walls that wind through the countryside. While his imagination was clearly red by their way of life, Bernard offered few clues about the meaning of this vibrant scene.
Young Bernard is here and has brought some interesting things with him. . . . He is one person who is not afraid to try anything.
-Paul Gauguin, 1888
