A Breton Boy with a Jug; Five Animal Forms [verso] 1884 - 1888

This sheet, by Paul Gauguin, shows a Breton boy rendered with colored pencil, and on the reverse, five animal forms. The softness of the colored pencil lends itself to the unassuming nature of the subject. We see the unlabored strokes in the simple cross-hatching of color, revealing the weave of the paper beneath. Rather than canvas and oil paints, Gauguin’s choice of paper and colored pencil is a distinctly intimate, and unpretentious one. The drawing feels immediate, a fleeting encounter with a young person from the French region of Brittany. There is a casualness to the composition, the quick execution of the line, and the prosaic subject. It is not necessarily a finished work of art, but rather a sketch from life, an exercise in the everyday, a move away from the grandiosity of academic painting. In the end, it is the choice of materials that brings us closer to the artist's intention, and reminds us that even the simplest of mediums can be used to create something beautiful and meaningful.