Lot Essay
This watercolor is related to the upper central part of the oil painting Drame au village (Wildenstein, 1964, no. 523; coll. The Art Institute of Chicago), which has been ascribed to 1894, placing it among a series of Breton landscapes that Gauguin painted during or after his stay in Brittany in April-November of that year (see note to lot 107). The oil composition shows an extensive and detailed view of a town set in a rolling landscape, with figures in the foreground, including a sulking woman whose figure Gauguin borrowed from his 1888 painting Misères humaines (Wildenstein, 2002, no. 317; coll. Ordrupgaard, Charlottenlund, Denmark). Wildenstein (1964, p. 214) describes Drame au village as "probablement paysage inventé, inspiré de Pont-Aven.." It seems plausible that Gauguin executed the painting when back in his Paris studio, based on studies such as the present work, which was rendered on site and depicts the rooftops of the town and a landscape of a field with hills beyond.