The artwork titled “Breton Landscape – Fields by the Sea (Le Pouldu)” is a piece by artist Paul Gauguin from 1889. This painting was created in France and is rendered in oil on canvas. It exemplifies the Post-Impressionist movement and specifically belongs to the genre of landscape painting. “Breton Landscape – Fields by the Sea (Le Pouldu)” can be found in the Nationalmuseum located in Stockholm, Sweden.
In the artwork, the viewer is presented with a vivid, undulating terrain consisting of fields stretching out toward the sea. The foreground shows twisted, almost sculptural trees and brush, indicative of Gauguin’s style where natural elements are rendered with a sense of symbolic abstraction. The rolling hills are depicted with a rich palette, featuring vibrant greens, warm oranges, and deep reds that suggest the vitality of the land, while also possibly communicating the emotional and spiritual aspects that Gauguin often sought to capture in his work.
Human presence is subtly incorporated, with figures integrated into the landscape. The individuals appear in harmony with their environment, hinting at a narrative of rural life that is closely tied to the natural world. The overall composition is balanced with a rhythmic quality, using bold outlines and flat areas of color that are trademarks of Post-Impressionism, distancing the artist from the naturalism of previous movements and leading towards an expressive, more emotionally resonant form of art. The vastness of the sky in the backdrop, with its gentle gradient from the yellow near the horizon to the pale blue of the sky, adds a calming element to the otherwise vibrant canvas, likely representing the time of day transitioning towards evening. Gauguin’s signature in the lower right corner attests to the artwork’s authenticity.
