Ferdinand du Puigaudeau
1864 - 1930Coucher de soleil sur la mer
Signed lower right 'F du Puigaudeau'
Oil on canvas
23 5/8 x 28 1/2 in, 60 x 72.5 cm
Ferdinand du Puigaudeau was a leading figure in the Post-Impressionist school of artists that surrounded Paul Gauguin and Émile Bernard in Pont Aven during the 1880s and 90s. While Puigaudeau...
Ferdinand du Puigaudeau was a leading figure in the Post-Impressionist school of artists that surrounded Paul Gauguin and Émile Bernard in Pont Aven during the 1880s and 90s. While Puigaudeau embraced the group’s spiritual treatment of rural life in Brittany, he retained a strong personal style of painting inspired by Neo-Impressionist colour theories and the varied effects of light in nature. In Puigaudeau’s most celebrated works of dazzling nocturnal fairgrounds and processions, the canvas is filled with Pointillist marks of pure colour in staccato strokes of the brush. This effervescent treatment of light and tone aligned Puigaudeau most closely with artists such as Henri Moret and Maxime Maufra.
Puigaudeau first travelled to Brittany in 1886 where he was struck by the region’s untouched pastoral landscape and pious traditional costume. Forging a strong connection to the area, he returned to settle in the idyllic hamlet of Kervaudu in the spring of 1908, following the breakdown of his relationship with art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel and financial ruin in Paris. Puigaudeau took shelter in the countryside from these disastrous events and restricted the display of his work to local and regional exhibitions, earning the nickname ‘the hermit of Kervaudu’ from Degas. Away from the pressures of the Parisian art world, Puigaudeau found freedom to spend longer periods outdoors and capture nature with a greater urgency and fidelity.
Following Gauguin’s departure from Pont Aven for the wilderness of Tahiti, Puigaudeau continued to paint evocative scenes of the coastal cliffs and flowering fields of Brittany. ‘Coucher de soleil sur la mer’ is characteristic of the radiant landscapes from this period, picturing Brittany’s shoreline stained with luminous orange and red at sunset. Puigaudeau painted several evocative versions of this coastal scene at twilight, a notable example of which was included in the major retrospective of his work at Musée Pont Aven in 1998. The expressive use of pure colour in these paintings reveals Puigaudeau’s fascination with the transitory effects of light in nature and belief in ‘colour above all else’.
Ferdinand du Puigaudeau’s work can now be found in international public collections including Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid; Musée Jacobins, Morlaix; Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nantes; Musée des Beaux-Arts Quimper, Quimper and Musée Saint Nazaire, Saint Nazaire.
Puigaudeau first travelled to Brittany in 1886 where he was struck by the region’s untouched pastoral landscape and pious traditional costume. Forging a strong connection to the area, he returned to settle in the idyllic hamlet of Kervaudu in the spring of 1908, following the breakdown of his relationship with art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel and financial ruin in Paris. Puigaudeau took shelter in the countryside from these disastrous events and restricted the display of his work to local and regional exhibitions, earning the nickname ‘the hermit of Kervaudu’ from Degas. Away from the pressures of the Parisian art world, Puigaudeau found freedom to spend longer periods outdoors and capture nature with a greater urgency and fidelity.
Following Gauguin’s departure from Pont Aven for the wilderness of Tahiti, Puigaudeau continued to paint evocative scenes of the coastal cliffs and flowering fields of Brittany. ‘Coucher de soleil sur la mer’ is characteristic of the radiant landscapes from this period, picturing Brittany’s shoreline stained with luminous orange and red at sunset. Puigaudeau painted several evocative versions of this coastal scene at twilight, a notable example of which was included in the major retrospective of his work at Musée Pont Aven in 1998. The expressive use of pure colour in these paintings reveals Puigaudeau’s fascination with the transitory effects of light in nature and belief in ‘colour above all else’.
Ferdinand du Puigaudeau’s work can now be found in international public collections including Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid; Musée Jacobins, Morlaix; Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nantes; Musée des Beaux-Arts Quimper, Quimper and Musée Saint Nazaire, Saint Nazaire.
Provenance
Bourdin Collection, France (acquired directly from the artist and thence by descent)Private Collection, France
