Bretonnes à la Barrière, from the "Volpini Suite: Dessins lithographiques"

Bretonnes à la Barrière, from the "Volpini Suite: Dessins lithographiques" by Paul Gauguin, is a foundational print created in 1889 during a critical period of the artist’s engagement with Synthetism in Brittany. This classification of the work as a print is highly specific; it is a zincograph executed on a sheet of distinct yellow paper, a choice that contributes to the work’s mood and aesthetic texture. Gauguin created this suite of eleven zincographs for the Exposition Volpini, a non-official group show held at the Café des Arts during the Paris World’s Fair, intending to showcase his radical graphic style to a wider audience.

The imagery is drawn from the artist’s sustained immersion in the traditional culture of Pont-Aven. The subject matter centers on rural life, depicting women standing at a wooden fence, or barrière. Consistent with the accompanying tags, the composition includes prominent animals, likely livestock, emphasizing the strong link between the Breton population and their agrarian setting. Gauguin’s treatment utilizes the graphic potential of zincography, employing simplified, heavy contour lines and densely inked areas to flatten the figures, a technique characteristic of his rejection of academic illusionism.

As one of the earliest and most ambitious suites of prints produced by Gauguin, the Volpini Suite marks a crucial stage in his journey toward Symbolism. The piece resides in the esteemed collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, where it serves as a key reference point for understanding Synthetist printmaking. Works such as this, produced by Gauguin in the late 1880s, often become accessible to scholars and enthusiasts globally through public domain initiatives, ensuring continued study of the master’s graphic output.