Young breton by the sea 1889

Curator: Ah, look. I see a somber figure cast against a turbulent seascape. Gauguin's "Young Breton by the Sea" from 1889... I can practically feel the salt air! Editor: A touch melancholic, isn’t it? The girl, those swirling blues… she’s almost swallowed by the landscape's intensity, no? What draws you in the most? Curator: It's the colour, inevitably. He has an incredible eye for invoking emotional reality. Notice how the oranges and blues fight it out, and the simplification. No detail, really, yet she has weight. Editor: Indeed. The composition directs you through contrasting color fields. Blue for the headscarf and the implied sea in the distance – creating a somewhat symmetrical and somber chromatic resonance – but the perspective seems off, warped…deliberately. It pushes her forward, confronting the viewer. It gives a voice to innocence. What could it be? Curator: Perspective and volume sacrificed at the altar of symbolism, perhaps? Gauguin had little concern for accuracy in the literal sense of a document. What matters to me is, as viewers, we become her silent companions, burdened by un-spoken things… maybe his point? We see only hints of sadness, in a young girl on a beach, and no more… so, it demands consideration. It is so much sadder than Van Gogh's landscapes, though. I believe Gauguin used impressionism’s palette and "freedom," for expressing darker tones... Editor: An interesting distinction to bring up...Van Gogh often offers, while Gauguin here asks, it would seem! The brushstrokes themselves contribute – quick, broken lines that emphasize movement and instability of a period that witnessed rapid technological expansion across all trades! Curator: It leaves a long resonance to ponder, doesn't it? She almost has an iconic feel to her. It haunts me, if I am honest. I hope you will never feel such…abandon. Editor: Yes, haunted...but the echo offers reflection, a way to be here and face what you see and don’t want to, which feels in equal measure devastating and freeing.