The National Museum of Western Art

Updated 01 May 2025

On Display Permanent collection

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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
Landscape in French art, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 0  1949 - 0  1950, cat. no. 286
1949
Gauguin, Orangerie des Tuileries, Paris, 0  1949 - 0  1949, cat. no. 20
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 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.
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.

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