Lot Essay
Between 1886 and 1890 Gauguin made several trips to Pont-Aven in Brittany. His aim was to settle in a place where he could concentrate on his art, in an environment free from the trappings of modern life. His choice of Pont-Aven, however, was not unusual; artists had been working in this area since the 1860s, staying in small, cheap inns and recording the region's picturesque landscapes and local customs.
In 1889, about one year after Gauguin's falling out with Vincent van Gogh in Arles, during which his friend mutilated his ear, Gauguin returned to Brittany and stayed at Le Pouldu. Gauguin rented the attic of the Maduit Villa in Les Grands Sables for a studio and worked alongside fellow artists Meyer de Haan and Paul Serusier. Other artists working in Pont-Aven made periodic visits to Le Pouldu, including Maxime Maufra, Louis Roy, Henry Moret and Charles Laval, during which thay had long discussions regarding philosophy and religion, as well as their own artistic experiments.
Nature morte Ripipoint stands out among Gauguin's other paintings of this period in both style and subject matter, and is his only pointillist-inspired work.
One of the favorite topics of discussion seems to have been Seurat's pointillism, about which Gauguin was especially sarcastic. The previous year at Pont-Aven he and Bernard had amused themselves by inventing a character representing a Neo-Impressionist, whom they had named Ripipoint. Bernard had written a series of ditties which the friends delighted in singing together. Gauguin had brought along and hung in the dining room a pointillist landscape, and now at Le Pouldu he did a small still life, executed in dots, which he actually signed Ripipoint. (J. Rewald, op. cit., 273-274)
In 1889, about one year after Gauguin's falling out with Vincent van Gogh in Arles, during which his friend mutilated his ear, Gauguin returned to Brittany and stayed at Le Pouldu. Gauguin rented the attic of the Maduit Villa in Les Grands Sables for a studio and worked alongside fellow artists Meyer de Haan and Paul Serusier. Other artists working in Pont-Aven made periodic visits to Le Pouldu, including Maxime Maufra, Louis Roy, Henry Moret and Charles Laval, during which thay had long discussions regarding philosophy and religion, as well as their own artistic experiments.
Nature morte Ripipoint stands out among Gauguin's other paintings of this period in both style and subject matter, and is his only pointillist-inspired work.
One of the favorite topics of discussion seems to have been Seurat's pointillism, about which Gauguin was especially sarcastic. The previous year at Pont-Aven he and Bernard had amused themselves by inventing a character representing a Neo-Impressionist, whom they had named Ripipoint. Bernard had written a series of ditties which the friends delighted in singing together. Gauguin had brought along and hung in the dining room a pointillist landscape, and now at Le Pouldu he did a small still life, executed in dots, which he actually signed Ripipoint. (J. Rewald, op. cit., 273-274)