Two Breton Women; Landscape [recto] 1884 - 1888

Editor: This is "Two Breton Women; Landscape", a drawing made with pencil and colored pencil by Paul Gauguin between 1884 and 1888. What strikes me is the contrast – the figures are somewhat defined, while the landscape is much more abstract. How do you read the symbolism at play here? Curator: Indeed, the contrast is key. Let's consider Brittany itself during that period. Gauguin, seeking a raw, authentic experience, found a culture clinging to its traditions. Do you see how the women, though simply sketched, are rendered with specific detail in their traditional headdresses? They become symbols of Breton identity. Editor: Yes, the headdresses are quite prominent. Curator: Exactly. Now, look at the landscape. It’s gestural, almost volatile. I see it as symbolic of the forces challenging that traditional Breton way of life, forces of modernity that Gauguin both admired and feared. How do the colours play into that for you? Editor: I notice that the figures are in color while the landscape remains essentially monochrome, as if to enhance that contrast. Curator: Precisely. The colour endows the women, and by extension, their culture, with a vibrant, immediate presence, even a kind of idealized nostalgia perhaps. But tell me, what do you think he is doing by pairing them like this, on the same page, but distinct? Editor: Perhaps Gauguin intended to illustrate the fragility of the culture of Brittany? As if they could easily fade into the landscape or, worse, be erased from it completely. Curator: That is insightful. Gauguin was forever caught between worlds, wasn’t he? Longing for the primitive, while remaining tethered to the modern. Perhaps this drawing captures that tension perfectly. Editor: Thank you, I had not thought of the tension between worlds.