Petit Breton arranging his shoe, or Landscape at Pont-Aven, Brittany 1888

Paul Gauguin's "Petit Breton arranging his shoe, or Landscape at Pont-Aven, Brittany" (1888) exemplifies the artist's fascination with the rural life of Brittany. The painting, currently housed at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen, showcases Gauguin's distinctive style, marked by bold colors and simplified forms. The composition is divided between a foreground featuring a young Breton boy tending to his shoe and a distant landscape. The artist captures the natural beauty of the region with vibrant hues, especially evident in the green fields and the reddish-brown hills. Gauguin's use of impasto, a technique where thick layers of paint are applied, adds a textured quality to the canvas, further highlighting the rustic charm of the scene.