Bernard, EmileFrench, 1868–1941The Nymphs
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The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the work
Before he had reached age 20, the precocious Bernard worked alongside Paul Gauguin and engaged in a lively correspondence with Vincent van Gogh. Toward the end of 1889, Van Gogh observed a shift in the young artist’s work and noted in a letter to his sister, “Bernard is trying to do elegant, modern figures in the manner of ancient Greek and Egyptian art.” The elongated, seemingly weightless forms in The Nymphs reflect Bernard’s stylistic evolution. This vividly hand-colored woodcut is one of only three known impressions of this print.
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Particulars
- Accession number
- 2015.152
In the catalog
Sources
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Image: The Cleveland Museum of Art — Museum open access
Meanwhile, in the life of Bernard, Emile
The whole life1887–1888
An exhibition in the restaurant on the Avenue de Clichy
Back in Paris, Bernard attends the Académie Julian and meets van Gogh, who is impressed by his work. He finds a restaurant on the Avenue de Clichy where his work is shown alongside that of van Gogh, Anquetin and Toulouse-Lautrec; van Gogh calls the group the “School of the Petit Boulevard”.
1888
On foot to Pont-Aven: friendship with Gauguin
A year later Bernard again sets out for Pont-Aven on foot and sees Gauguin; their friendship and artistic partnership quickly grow strong. Bernard wants an art of the most extreme simplicity, accessible to all and practised collectively, and Gauguin is impressed by his ability to put his ideas into words. Other accounts have him living in Pont-Aven in 1886–1888 and joining the Pont-Aven group.
August 1888
Drawings for van Gogh
In August 1888 Bernard sends van Gogh a batch of drawings, acquainting him with his new style. One of them — a lane of trees near the sea with two women talking and some strollers — appears to have inspired the work van Gogh and Gauguin later did on the Allée des Alyscamps in Arles.
1890
A religious crisis and a turn to the Middle Ages
In 1890 Bernard goes through a religious crisis and turns to the subjects and themes of medieval art. In the same year he sets out to revive symbolism, which he saw as Christian in essence — the invisible expressed through the visible.
1891
The break with Gauguin
In 1891 Bernard breaks off his friendship with Gauguin. It was always his great frustration that Gauguin never named him as an influence on pictorial symbolism; one writer says his rivalry with Gauguin led him “out of spite” towards classicism.
1891
Among the Symbolists and the Nabis
In 1891 Bernard joins the group of Symbolist painters that includes Odilon Redon and Ferdinand Hodler, and in the same year becomes a member of the Nabis.
