Gauguin & the Pont-Aven School

Gauguin & the Pont-Aven School

Surrounded by one of Brittany's most beautiful countrysides, Pont-Aven was a natural to become a "cité des artistes" in the heady days of Impressionism and Postimpressionism. It was actually the introduction of the railroad in the 19th century that put travel to Brittany in vogue, and it was here that Gauguin and other like-minded artists founded the noted Pont-Aven school. Inspired by the vibrant colors and lovely vistas to be found here, they created "synthétisme," a painting style characterized by broad patches of pure color and strong symbolism, in revolt against the dominant Impressionist school back in Paris. Gauguin arrived in the summer of 1886, happy to find a place "where you can live on nothing" (Paris's stock market had crashed and cost Gauguin his job). At Madame Gloanec's boarding house he welcomed a circle of painters to join him in his artistic quest for monumental simplicity and striking color.

Today Pont-Aven seems content to rest on its laurels. Although it's labeled a "city of artists," the galleries that line its streets display paintings that lack the unifying theme and common creative energy of the earlier works of art. The first Pont-Aven painters were American students who came here in the 1850s. The only one to gain recognition, Charles Fromuth, has some paintings on display in the town museum. Though Gauguin is not surprisingly absent (his paintings now go for millions), except for a few of his early zincographs, the exhibit Hommage à Gauguin is an interesting sketch of his turbulent life. Also on view in the museum are works by other near-great Pont-Aven artists: Maurice Denis, Emil Bernard, Emil Jordan, and Emmanuel Sérusier.