Two Breton Girls by the Sea|Paul Gauguin |Search Collection

Updated 10 April 2025

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On Display

Permanent collection

Paul Gauguin

Paris, 1848 - Atuona, Hiva'Oa, Marquesas Islands, 1903

Two Breton Girls by the Sea

Date	1889
Materials and Techniques	oil on canvas
Size（cm）	92.5 x 73.6
Inscriptions	Signed and dated lower right: P Gauguin 89
Credit Line	Matsukata Collection
Standard ref.	Wildenstein 340; M493
Category	Paintings
Collection Number	P.1959-0106

After his short stay with van Gogh in Arles, Gauguin once again chose Brittany as the site of his work during 1889 and 1890. Two Breton Girls by the Sea is one of the best examples of this period, and its planar use of bright red, green and blue pigments speaks of the creation of his "Cloisonnism", a style characterized by distinctive outlines, that became his signature. This work was created in the Brittany town of Le Pouldu during the autumn of 1889 and depicts two young girls wearing the clothing of the region. A preparatory sketch drawn in pastels showing only the two figures is currently in a private collection in London. Here, the large-scale completed composition brings the forms of these two girls to the very edge of the image's front left, while its flat application of pigments was undoubtedly a revolutionary form for the period. Gauguin took this style one step further after his 1891 departure for Tahiti. (Source: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2009, cat. no.87)

Provenance

John Levy Galleries, Paris; purchased from the above by Kojiro Matsukata, Kobe, 1921, as “Deux petites bretonnes” [see letter from John Levy Galleries to Léonce Bénédite, dated 22 November 1921, in the Bibliothèque centrale des musées nationaux, Paris (copy in NMWA curatorial file)]; sequestered by French government, 1944; vested in French government under San Francisco Peace Treaty, 1952; transferred from French to Japanese government, 23 January 1959; entered into NMWA, April 1959.

Exhibition History

1947: Les origines de l'art contemporain, Strasbourg, 0 1947 - 0 1947, Besançon; Nancy, 1947, cat. no. 61
1948: Gli impressionisti alla XXIV Biennale di Venezia, Venezia, 0 1948 - 0 1948, cat. no. 82
1949: Gauguin, Orangerie des Tuileries, Paris, 0 1949 - 0 1949, cat. no. 20
1949: Landscape in French art, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 0 1949 - 0 1950, cat. no. 286
1950: Gauguin et le groupe de Pont-Aven, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Quimper, 0 1950 - 0 1950, cat. no. 9
1951: Le fauvisme, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris, 0 1951 - 0 1951, cat. no. 8
1953: Van Gogh's grote tijdgenoten, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 0 1953 - 0 1953, Krölder-Müller Museum, Otterlo, cat. no. 10
1958: Paysages de France, Musée de Rouen, 0 1958 - 0 1958, cat. no. 78
1979: French Paintings at the End of 19th Century and the Beginning of the 20th Century in Japanese Collections, Hermitage, Leningrad, 0 1979 - 0 1979, Vilnius Museum, Vilnius; Puschkin Museum, Moscow, 1979, cat. no. 18, repr.
1987: Paul Gauguin , The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 6 March 1987 - 17 May 1987, cat. no. 32, col. repr.
1989: Gauguin, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, 10 January 1989 - 24 April 1989, cat. no. 91, col. repr.
1994: Van Gogh, His Sources, Genius and Influence, Queensland Art Gallery, 22 January 1994 - 13 March 1994, cat. no. 52, col. repr.
1996: The Crossing Visions: European and Modern Japanese Art from the Collections of The National Museum of Western Art & The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 20 July 1996 - 8 September 1996, cat. no. 44
2005: Musée Toulouse-Lautrec, Albi , Museum Collection, 10 October 2005 - 11 December 2005
2009: Paul Gauguin, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 3 July 2009 - 23 September 2009, cat. no. 10, col. repr.
2013: Monet, An Eye for Landscapes: Innovation in 19th Century French Landscape Paintings, Pola Museum of Art, 13 July 2013 - 24 November 2013, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 7 December 2013-9 March 2014, cat. no. 53, col. repr.
2015: Japan's Love for Impressionism: From Monet to Renoir, Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, 8 October 2015 - 21 February 2016, cat. no. 101, col. repr.
2019: The Matsukata Collection: A One-Hundred-Year Odyssey: Upon the 60th Anniversary of the NMWA, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 11 June 2019 - 23 September 2019, cat. no. 104, col. repr.
2022: Renoir—Monet—Gauguin: Images of a Floating World: the Collections of Kōjirō Matsukata and Karl Ernst Osthaus, Museum Folkwang, 6 February 2022 - 15 May 2022
2022: In Dialogue with Nature - from Friedrich, Monet and Van Gogh to Richter, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 4 June 2022 - 11 September 2022, cat. no. 50
2023: La Bretagne source d'inspiration: regards de peintres français et japonais, The National Museum of Western Art, 18 March 2023 - 11 June 2023, cat. no. 49
2023: La Révolution Cubiste: Exposition de la collection du Centre Pompidou, Paris, Musée national d'art occidental, Tokyo, 3 October 2023 - 28 January 2024, Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art, 20 March 2024-7 July, cat. no. 5

Bibliography

1930: Alexandre, A. Paul Gauguin, sa vie et le sens de son œuvre. Paris, 1930, p. 250.
1948: Réne-Jean. Gauguin. Paris, 1948, repr.
1950: Dovski, L. van. Gauguin. Bern, 1950, p. 343.
1953: Estienne, Ch. Gauguin. Genève, 1953, p. 48, col. repr.
1953: Van Gogh's Grote Tijdgenoten (exh. cat.). [Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, 1953], cat. no. 10, repr.
1955: La Collection Matsukata, Tokyo, Asahi- Shimbun, 1955 (Japanese), no. 23, col. repr.
1961: Catalogue du Musée National d'Art Occidental, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1961 (Préface and Catalogue Général in Japanese and French), P-155.
1964: Wildenstein, G. Gauguin. 1, catalogue, Paris, 1964, p. 130-131, no. 340. repr.
1971: Les cent chefs-d'œuvre du Musée National d'Art Occidental. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1971 (Japanese), no. 34, col. repr.
1973: Daval, J.-L. Journal de l'art moderne 1884-1914. Genève, 1973, p. 90, repr.
1975: Les cent chefs-d'œuvre du Musée National d'Art Occidental. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1975 (Japanese), no. 53, col. repr.
1978: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1978 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 59, col. repr.
1979: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo: Catalogue of Paintings. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1979, no. 129, repr.
1987: Paul Gauguin (exh. cat.). The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, ed. [Tokyo], The Tokyo Shimbun, 1987, pp. 76-77, 166-167, 190, cat. no. 32, col. repr.
1988: The Art of Paul Gauguin (exh. cat.). Brettell, Richard; Cachin, Françoise; Frèches-Thory, Claire; Stuckey, Charles F. Washington, National Gallery of Art, 1988, pp. 163-164, cat. no. 91, col. repr.
1989: Gauguin (exh. cat.). L'Art Institute of Chicago; La National Gallery of Art de Washington; Galeries nationales du Grand Palais. Paris, Editions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, 1989, pp. 172-173, cat. no. 91, col. repr.
1990: The Old Matsukata Collection. Kobe City Museum, ed. Kobe, "Matsukata Korekushon Ten" Jikkoiinkai, 1990, cat. no. 703.
1993: Shell presents Van Gogh: His Sources, Genius and Influence (exh. cat.). Ryan, Judith, ed. Sydney, Art Exhibitions Australia Ltd., 1993, pp. 112-113, cat. no. 52. col. repr.
2006: Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2006 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 87, col. repr.
2009: Paul Gauguin. The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, ed. Tokyo, NHK; NHK Promotions Inc., 2009, cat. no. 10, col. repr.
2009: Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2009, no. 87, col. repr.
2013: MONET, An Eye For Landscapes: Innovation in 19th Century French Landscape Paintings(exh. cat.). Tokyo, TBS, c2013, cat. no. 53, col. repr.
2013: Masterpieces: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2013 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 106, col. repr.
2015: Japan's Love for Impressionism: From Monet to Renoir (exh. cat.). Marks-Hanssen, Beate, ed. Bonn, Bundeskunsthalle, 2015, pp. 170-171, 246, cat. no. 101, col. repr.
2016: Cariou, André. Gauguin et ses Camarades de L'école de Pont-Aven au Pouldu. Spezet, Coop Breizh, 2016, cover, p. 34, col. repr.
2018: The Matsukata Collection: Complete Catalogue of the European Art. Kawaguchi, Masako; Jingaoka, Megumi, eds. vol. 1: Paintings, Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2018, cat. no. 493, col. repr.
2019: The Matsukata Collection: A One-Hundred-Year Odyssey (exh. cat.). Jingaoka, Megumi, ed. Tokyo, The National Museum of the Western Art, Tokyo; Yomiuri Shimbun; NHK; NHK Promotions, 2019, pp. 192, 194, 366, cat. no. 104, col. repr.
2022: Renoir—Monet—Gauguin: Images of a Floating World: the Collections of Kōjirō Matsukata and Karl Ernst Osthaus (exh.cat.). Engel, Nadine; Herlemann, Rebecca, eds. Berlin, Hatje Cantz, [2022], pp. 329, 365, col. repr.
2022: In Dialogue with Nature: from Friedrich, Monet and Van Gogh to Richter (exh. cat.). Jingaoka, Megumi; Shinfuji, Atsushi; Yomiuri Shimbun, Museum Exhibition Department, eds. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo; Yomiuri Shimbun; NHK; NHK Promotions, 2022, pp. 115, 258, cat. no. 50, col. repr.
2023: La Révolution Cubiste: Exposition de la collection du Centre Pompidou, Paris (exh. cat.). Musée national d'art occidental, Tokyo; Kyoto City Museum of Art(Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art); Nikkei Inc., eds. Tokyo, Nikkei Inc., 2023, pp. 33, 325, cat. no. 5, col. repr.
2023: La Bretagne source d'inspiration: regards de peintres français et japonais (exh. cat.). Hakamata, Hiroyo, ed. Tokyo, Tokyo Broadcasting System Television, 2023, pp. 84, 202, cat. no. 49, col. repr.

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