November 2010 • www.scholastic.com/art

In this issue of Scholastic Art, you learned how French artist

Paul Gauguin used color to develop his unique painting style. Now find out how he used

the world around him to create one of his first masterpieces.

THE ARTIST

In 1886, Paul Gauguin

had no job and no

money. He told a

friend, “How I long to

escape from Paris and

go to some out-of-the-

way place where I can

live cheaply and paint

pictures.”

THE ESCAPE

Soon Gauguin left

Paris for Brittany, a

colorful and rugged

region on the

northwestern coast

of France.

THE PLACE

The rocky peninsula of Brittany is isolated from the rest of France.

As a result, Breton culture stayed the same for hundreds of years.

THE PEOPLE

When Gauguin lived in

Brittany, many Bretons

dressed as they had for

centuries. For church

every Sunday, women

wore traditional

costumes which

included

large, elaborate

white bonnets.

THE CHURCH

Known for being very

independent and

religious, the Bretons

had always made the

church an important part

of their lives.

CHURCH WINDOWS

Stained-glass windows

like this one have always

been an important feature

of Breton churches.

Gauguin noticed that

every image in these

windows was made

up of brightly colored flat

shapes. Each shape was

outlined

by heavy black lines.

THE PAINTING

Breton life fascinated

Gauguin, and

he used elements of

the culture in this

work titled,

The Vision After the

Sermon.Can you find

two aspects of Breton

life Gauguin has used

in this image?

The Vision After the Sermon, 1888. National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland.

The Vision After the Sermon, 1888. National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland.

TWO WORLDS

To visually capture

the depth of the

Bretons’ religious

belief, Gauguin began

by dividing his

composition

into two parts.

The Vision After the Sermon, 1888. National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland.

The bottom part

represents reality. A

group of Breton

women have just

come from church.

Gauguin has painted

them realistically,

using natural colors,

solid shapes, and

traditional

perspective.

The women are

thinking about the

sermon they have

just heard.

The Vision After the Sermon, 1888. National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland.

The top half visualizes

the women’s thoughts.

The bright-red

background, unnatural

colors and simplified

flat shapes tell us that

the events at the top

of the painting are

happening

only in the women’s

minds.

The Vision After the Sermon, 1888. National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland.

THE IDEA

The sermon—and

Gauguin’s painting—

are both based on a

biblical story in which

Jacob wrestles with

an angel. For Gauguin, Jacob

symbolizes the artist’s

created struggle.

Gauguin’s use of

strong primary reds,

yellows and blues

expresses the strength

needed

to create.

NEW ART STYLE

The Vision After the

Sermon was one of the

first paintings Gauguin

did in the new style for

which he would become

famous. It features

brightly colored flat

shapes surrounded by

heavy black outlines.Compare this work

to the Breton

stained-glass window

you saw earlier. The Vision After the Sermon, 1888. National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland.

MOVING ON

After finishing this painting, Gauguin wrote to his friend artist Vincent van Gogh, “I think I

have captured a great and simple religious truth.”

Gauguin lived in Brittany off and on for the next two years until he received

a letter from Van Gogh inviting him to come and live in southern France.To find out more about this famous visit, read

pages 6-7 in the November issue of