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| Émile Bernard c1892 |
Bernard was born in Lille, France, in 1868. The family moved to Paris in 1878 and he began his studies at École des Arts Décoratifs. In 1884 he joined the Atelier Cormon where he experimented with Impressionism and Pointillism, and befriended fellow artists Louis Anquetin and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. After being suspended from the École sea Beaux-Arts for "showing expressive tendencies in his paintings", he toured Brittany on foot, where he was much taken by the tradition and landscape.
In August 1886, Bernard met Gauguin in Pont-Aven. In this brief meeting they exchanged little about art, but looked forward to meeting again. Bernard said, looking back at that time, that "my own talent was already fully developed." He believed his style did play a considerable part in the development of Gauguin's mature style. Bernard spent September 1887 at the coast, where he painted "La Grand-mère", a portrait of his grandmother.
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| 1887 La Grand-mère oil on canvas
He continued talking with other painters and started saying good things about Gauguin. Bernard went back to Paris, met with Van Gogh, who as we already stated was impressed by his work, found a restaurant to show the work alongside Van Gogh, Anquetin, and Lautrec’s work at the Avenue Clichy. Van Gogh, called the group the School of Petit-Boulevard.
One year later, Bernard set out for Pont-Aven by foot and saw Gauguin. Their friendship and artistic relationship grew strong quickly. By this time Bernard had developed many theories about his artwork and what he wanted it to be. He stated that he had “a desire to [find] an art that would be of the most extreme simplicity and that would be accessible to all, so as not to practice its individuality, but collectively…” Gauguin was impressed by Bernard’s ability to verbalise his ideas.
In 1891 he joined a group of Symbolist painters that included Odilon Redon and Ferdinand Hodler. In 1893 he started travelling, to Egypt, Spain and Italy and after that his style became more eclectic. He returned to Paris in 1904 and died there in 1941.
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| 1888 Self-Portrait with portrait of Paul Gauguin, dedicated to Vincent van Gogh |
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| 1888 Self-portrait (in the role of 'Les Misérables' protagonist Jean Valjean) with Émile Bernard portrait in the background, for Vincent oil on canvas |
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| 1886 Boy Sitting in the Grass oil on canvas |
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| 1886 Orchard at Pont-Aven oil on panel |
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| 1886 The Entrance to Asnieres, the Hay-wagon oil on canvas |
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| 1886 Woman at Saint-Briac oil on canvas |
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| 1887 Iron Bridges at Asnières oil on canvas © 2011 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris |
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| 1887 Still Life with Flowers |
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| 1887 Young Woman in Kimono, Reading oil on paper |
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| 1888 Buckwheat Harvesters at Pont-Aven oil on canvas |
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| 1888 Madeleine in the Bois d'Amour oil on canvas |
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| 1888 Portrait de Madame Schuffenecker oil on canvas |
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| 1888 The Harvest |
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| 1888 Yellow Tree oil on canvas |
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| c1888-1901 Breton Women in the Meadow
Gaugin took the above painting 'Breton Women in the
Meadow" with him when he joined Vincent Van Gogh in Arles, in Ocotber
1888. Vincent, being immediately fond of this radical new style, made
the copy (below), just to notify his brother Theo of the artist that had
impressed him so much:
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| 1889 Breton Peasants oil on canvas |
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| 1889 Portrait of a Boy in Hat |
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| 1890 Boats at Pont-Aven oil on canvas |
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| c1890 Still Life with Lemons and Goblet oil on canvas |
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| 1891 Still Life with Pears on a White Tablecloth oil on canvas |
