Breton Girl with a Red Umbrella 1888

Emile Bernard painted this canvas of a Breton Girl around 1888, using oil paint and bold, simplified forms. Look closely, and you'll notice the loose, expressive brushstrokes that define the girl's features and the surrounding landscape. These strokes aren't just about depicting what's seen; they convey a sense of immediacy and the artist’s subjective experience of the scene. Bernard was aligned with the Post-Impressionist movement, which was concerned with capturing light, color, and subjective impressions rather than objective reality. The colors and forms were applied with a focus on design, more so than mimesis, and the scene is distilled down to its essential elements. The painting reflects a deliberate simplification, a way to get at the symbolic essence of the subject. So, consider how Bernard’s approach here reflects a broader shift in the art world. It's a move away from academic precision towards a more personal, emotive way of seeing and representing the world. We see a newfound appreciation for direct expression through the handling of paint itself. This emphasis on subjective experience and simplification influenced many artists and movements that followed.