Breton panel with cows

Paul Sérusier prints bring the bold colour, simple shapes and quiet Breton countryside of the Nabis into your home. Sérusier painted The Talisman under Gauguin's guidance in 1888, a small picture so close to abstraction that it became the founding work of the Nabis group he helped name. Our collection of fine art prints covers his Pont-Aven and Huelgoat landscapes, Breton women at work, still lifes and later decorative paintings.

About Paul Sérusier

Paul Sérusier was born in Paris on 9 November 1864. He studied at the Académie Julian, where he became a monitor in the mid-1880s. In the summer of 1888 he went to Pont-Aven in Brittany and joined the small group around Paul Gauguin. Under Gauguin's direction he painted a small landscape in pure, unmixed colour, which his friends called The Talisman.

Back in Paris he formed a group with Pierre Bonnard, Maurice Denis, Henri-Gabriel Ibels and Paul Ranson, later joined by Édouard Vuillard and Ker-Xavier Roussel. They called themselves the Nabis, from the Hebrew for "prophets", and met to discuss art, symbolism and the occult. In 1889 Sérusier returned to Brittany and stayed at Le Pouldu with Gauguin and others. From 1891 he worked at Huelgoat, and from 1893 at Châteauneuf-du-Faou, which became his home.

He spent winters in Paris designing sets and costumes for Lugné-Poe's Symbolist Théâtre de l'Œuvre. In 1895 his friend Jan Verkade took him to the Benedictine monastery of Beuron in Germany, whose monk-artists believed in sacred proportions, and he later translated their key book into French. He taught at the Académie Ranson from 1908, published his ABC de la peinture in 1921 and died at Morlaix in Brittany on 7 October 1927.

Style and Subjects

Sérusier's early Breton pictures use flat areas of strong colour outlined in dark lines, a style known as Cloisonnism, and simplified, almost abstract shapes. The Talisman takes this to the extreme: trees, water and a path become patches of pure colour.

From the 1890s his palette softened, with colours broken with grey, and he painted solid, monumental Breton peasant women, landscapes and farm scenes. Later, under the influence of the Beuron monks, he turned to more geometric, decorative compositions based on measurement and proportion.

Famous Works

• The Talisman (The Aven at the Bois d'Amour) (1888), Musée d'Orsay, Paris. The tiny landscape painted under Gauguin's guidance that launched the Nabis.
• Farmhouse at Le Pouldu (1890). A Breton farm painted in flat, bold colour.
• The Beach of Les Grands Sables at Le Pouldu (1890), Art Institute of Chicago. The Brittany coast simplified into bands of colour.
• Breton Wrestling (1890), Musée d'Orsay, Paris. Young men wrestling in a field, a traditional Breton sport.
• Bretons in the Forest of Huelgoat (1893). Peasant figures among the rocks and trees of Huelgoat.
• Celtic Tale (1894), Dallas Museum of Art. A Symbolist scene drawn from Breton legend.
• The Harvest of Buckwheat (1899), Art Institute of Chicago. Women gathering the buckwheat crop in a golden field.

Decorating with Sérusier Prints

Sérusier's Breton landscapes and farm scenes, with their warm ochres, greens and soft reds, suit a living room, kitchen or country-style home. The Talisman, small and bold, makes a great talking point in a study or modern living space.

His pictures of Breton women at work, like La tapisserie (les cinq tisseuses), work well in a hallway or dining room, and his still lifes of apples and pears bring colour to a breakfast nook.

FAQ

What art movement was Paul Sérusier part of?

He was a founding member of the Nabis and worked with Gauguin's Pont-Aven School. His early work is a key example of Synthetism and Cloisonnism.

What is The Talisman?

The Talisman (1888) is a small landscape Sérusier painted at Pont-Aven under Gauguin's direction, using pure, unmixed colours. His friends treated it as a kind of manifesto, and it is now in the Musée d'Orsay.

Who were the Nabis?

The Nabis ("prophets") were a group of young Paris painters formed around 1888–89, including Sérusier, Pierre Bonnard, Maurice Denis, Paul Ranson and later Édouard Vuillard. They favoured flat colour, decoration and symbolism.

Where can I see Sérusier's paintings?

The Musée d'Orsay holds The Talisman and other key works. The Art Institute of Chicago, the Dallas Museum of Art and the museums of Rennes and Quimper in Brittany also hold his work.

Related Artists

• Paul Gauguin: guided him in painting The Talisman at Pont-Aven
• Maurice Denis: fellow Nabi and lifelong friend who wrote about his life
• Pierre Bonnard: fellow founding member of the Nabis
• Édouard Vuillard: Nabi painter who joined the group soon after
• Paul Ranson: fellow founding Nabi; Sérusier later taught at the Académie Ranson