Landscape of Brittany|Paul Gauguin |Search Collection | The National Museum of Western Art

Updated 10 April 2025

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Paul Gauguin

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

Landscape of Brittany

Date	1888
Materials and Techniques	oil on canvas
Size（cm）	89.3 x 116.6
Inscriptions	Signed and dated lower left: 88. P Gauguin
Credit Line	Matsukata Collection
Standard ref.	Wildenstein 256; D. Wildenstein 265; M492
Category	Paintings
Collection Number	P.1959-0105

Brittany, the region of northwestern France bound by the English Channel and the Atlantic Ocean, has preserved a culture distinct from that of France and has fostered a simple, artless lifestyle. Gauguin visited Pont-Aven in Brittany in 1886, and lived in that area off and on until 1890. He used the undulating landscapes and artless genre scenes of the region in his pursuit of distinctive individualistic compositions. This work from the first half of his stay in Brittany represents a transitional stage from the Impressionist style to his own more planar forms. While the palette is subdued and the touch resembles that of the Impressionists, each form of the separate objects is expressed in large color blocks edged by outlines, clearly foreshadowing the style that would emerge in the latter half of Gauguin's stay in Brittany. It is thought that this work was created in the fall of 1888 just before he set out on a trip to visit van Gogh in Arles. (Source: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2009, cat. no.86)

Provenance

Galerie E. Druet, Paris, stock no. 4570, Druet-Vizzavona photo. no. 2785; purchased from Galerie E. Druet by Kojiro Matsukata, Kobe, ca. December 1921, as “Paysage de Bretagne” [see letter from Galerie E. Druet to Léonce Bénédite, dated 13 December 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, Nancy; Besançon,1947, cat. no. 60
1949: Gauguin, Orangerie des Tuileries, Paris, 0 1949 - 0 1949, cat. no. 9
1949: Landscape in French art, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 0 1949 - 0 1950, cat. no. 290
1950: Gauguin et le groupe de Pont-Aven, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Quimper, 0 1950 - 0 1950, cat. no. 4
1958: Paysages de France, Musée de Rouen, 0 1958 - 0 1958, cat. no. 77
1978: European Landscape Painting, Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art, Kofu, 3 November 1978 - 15 January 1979, cat. no. 80
1985: Le chemin de Gauguin: genése et rayonnement, Musée départemental du prieuré, Saint-Germain-en-Laye , 7 October 1985 - 2 March 1986, 3rd ed. cat. no. 414, col. repr.
1987: Paul Gauguin, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 6 March 1987 - 17 May 1987, Aichi Prefectural Art Gallery, 12-28 June, cat. no. 24, col. repr.
1988: The Art of Paul Gauguin, National Gallery of Art, Washignton, 1 May 1988 - 31 July 1988, The Art Institute of Chicago, 17 september-20 April, cat. no. 42, col. repr.
2017: Gauguin: Artist as Alchemist, The Art Institute of Chicago, 14 June 2017 - 10 September 2017, Réunion des musées nationaux-Grand Palais, Paris, 9 October 2017-21 January 2018, cat. no. 59, 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. 119, 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
2024: Gauguin's World: Tōna Iho, Tōna Ao, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 29 June 2024 - 7 October 2024, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 3 November 2024-16 February 2025

Bibliography

1920: Morice, Ch. Paul Gauguin. Paris, 1920, p. 156 bis, repr.
1925: Rotonchamp, J. de. Paul Gauguin: 1848-1903. Paris, 1925, p. 30 bis, repr.
1948: René-Jean. Gauguin. Paris, 1948, repr.
1950: Dovski, L. van. Gauguin. Bern, 1950, p. 343.
1952: Huyghe, R. Le carnet de Paul Gauguin. Paris, 1952, p. 72.
1955: La Collection Matsukata, Tokyo, Asahi- Shimbun, 1955 (Japanese), no. 24, 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-154.
1961: Rewald, J. Le post-impressionnisme. Paris, 1961, p. 120.
1961: Cogniat, R.; Rewald, J. Paul Gauguin, carnet de croquis, 1961, pp. 21-22.
1964: Wildenstein, G. Gauguin. 1, catalogue, Paris, 1964, pp. 95-96, no. 256, repr.
1971: Les cent chefs-d'œuvre du Musée National d'Art Occidental. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1971 (Japanese), no. 33, repr.
1975: Les cent chefs-d'œuvre du Musée National d'Art Occidental. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1975 (Japanese), no. 52, 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. 58, repr.
1979: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo: Catalogue of Paintings. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1979, no. 128, repr.
1986: Dorival, Bernard. "Le milieu". Gauguin. Paris, Société nouvelle des Éd. du Chêne, 1986(Génies et réalités, 1st ed., Paris, 1961), pp. 49-50.
1986: Le chemin de Gauguin: Genèse et Rayonnement (exh. cat.). Anquetil, Marie-Amélie. Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Musée Départemental du Prieuré, [1986], pp. 208-209, 239, cat. no. 414, col. repr.
1987: Paul Gauguin (exh. cat.). The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, ed. [Tokyo], The Tokyo Shimbun, 1987, pp. 68-70, 165-166, 190, cat. no. 24, col. repr.
1988: The Art of Paul Gauguin (exh. cat.). Richard Brettell et al. Washington, National Gallery of Art, 1988, pp. 92-93, cat. no. 42, col. repr.
1989: Merlhès, Victor. Paul Gauguin et Vincent Van Gogh: 1887-1888: Lettres Retrouvées, Sources Ignorées. Papeete, Tahiti, Polynésie française, 1989, p. 63, note 1.
1990: The Old Matsukata Collection. Kobe City Museum, ed. Kobe, "Matsukata Korekushon Ten" Jikkoiinkai, 1990, cat. no. 702.
1993: Jirat-Wasiutyński, Vojtěch. Paul Gauguin in the Context of Symbolism. Microfilm rep. ed., Ann Arbor, MI, 1993, (New York/ London, Princeton University, 1975, Dissertation), p. 127.
2002: Wildenstein, Daniel. Gauguin: A savage in the Making: Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings, 1873-1888. Milan, Skira; Paris, Wildenstein Institute, 2002, vol. 2, pp. 372-374, no. 265, 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. 86, 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. 86, col. repr.
2013: Masterpieces: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2013 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 105, col. repr.
2017: Gauguin: artist as alchemist (exh. cat.). Groom, Gloria, ed. Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, [2017], pp. 126, 136, 331, cat. no. 59, 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. 492, 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. 210-211, 369, cat. no. 119, 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. 327, 364, col. repr.
2024: Gauguin's world: Tōna Iho, Tōna Ao (exh. cat.). Loyrette, Henri. Parkes, ACT/ The Rocks, NSW, National Gallery of Australia; Art Exhibitions Australia Limited, 2024, pp. 67, 263, col. repr.

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