Breton Boys Wrestling 1888

Paul Gauguin painted Breton Boys Wrestling with oil on canvas in 1888. It depicts two young boys grappling on a vivid green field. Painted in Brittany, the image hints at Gauguin's broader artistic project. He, like other artists and writers, were drawn to the region for its perceived distance from Parisian modernity. The image is a commentary on the rise of ethnographic study in the late nineteenth century as well as anxieties about modern life. Gauguin turns to Brittany in search of a simpler, more authentic mode of living and art making. By the late 1880s, wrestling was codified as both a folk tradition and as a modern sport. In this painting we see wrestling presented as a form of local color and authentic masculine ritual. To understand the painting more fully we can research 19th century wrestling manuals, travelogues, and consider the rise of sporting culture during the French Third Republic. These kinds of materials shed light on the image and the ways Gauguin engaged with the social context of his time.