Breton Girls Dancing, Pont-Aven

1888

Paul Gauguin

Painter, French, 1848 - 1903

Three light-skinned girls hold hands to create a loose ring with their arms extended, in a grassy field in this horizontal painting. All three girls wear white headdresses, ankle-length, long-sleeved dresses, and clogs. Each dress has a wide white collar that extends beyond the shoulders. A ruby-red flower is pinned to the brown apron on the two girls whose fronts we see. Their features and clothing are outlined in cobalt blue and filled in with parallel, often visible strokes. To our left, a girl stands with both arms stretched out, one holding the hand of the girl next to her, to our right. The first girl looks off into the distance to our left with dark eyes. She has a button nose, and her peach-colored lips curve down at the corners. Her auburn-red hair is tucked back under her bonnet. Her dress is navy blue, and her stockings are brick red. She steps forward onto her right foot, to our left. The second girl, holding the first girls’ hand, stands facing our right in profile, looking slightly down. Her features are indistinct, but she also seems to have a snub nose and her pink lips are closed. She has blond hair and an emerald-green dress. Her hazelnut-brown stockings match her apron. She also steps forward, but onto her left foot. The third girl stands with her back to us, seen between the first two, as she looks over her shoulder to our right in profile. Her left arm is also raised but her right arm is hidden behind the second girl. The third girl has brown hair and a pointed nose. Her dress is black, and she steps forward onto her right foot. A small dog with brown and white speckled fur sniffs at the grass to our right of the girls. Piles of long grass or hay dot the lemon-lime green field, which dips down behind the girls and to our left to meet a low, stone gray wall. Buildings in plum purple, ivory white, terracotta orange, and ocean blue span the width of the painting beyond the wall. One narrow spire reaches above the other rooflines. Tall, narrow, dark green trees are interspersed among the buildings, and a hill climbs nearly to the top of the canvas to our left. A few thin slate-gray clouds float across a narrow band of shell-pink sky above. The artist signed and dated the work in lower right corner, “P. Gauguin 88.”

Media Options

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On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 83

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

  • Dimensions

    overall: 73 x 92.7 cm (28 3/4 x 36 1/2 in.)
    framed: 86.7 x 106 x 3.5 cm (34 1/8 x 41 3/4 x 1 3/8 in.)

  • Accession

    1983.1.19

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Acquired from the artist in November 1888 by (Boussod, Valadon et Cie., Paris and New York); sold 16 September 1889 to Montandon.[1] (Ambroise Vollard [1867-1939], Paris), by 1922 until at least 1936.[2] Possibly (Etienne Bignou, Paris).[3] William A. Cargill [d. 1962], Carruth, Scotland, by 1956;[4] (his estate sale, Sotheby's, London, 11 June 1963, no. 29); purchased by Acciarri for (Hector Brame, Paris) for Paul Mellon, Upperville, [5] VA; gift 1983 to NGA.
[1] According to La Ronde des petites Bretonnes, exh. cat., Musée des beaux arts, Rennes, 1997, p. 6.
[2] Listed in the Vollard inventory of 1 January 1922, as 'Danse bretonne 72 x 92 10000,' Archives Vollard, Musée d'Orsay, Paris. Lent by Vollard to exhibitions in Paris and New York in 1936.
[3] A photograph of this painting is included in the albums from the Bignou Gallery, now at the documentation center of the Musée d'Orsay (copy, NGA curatorial files).
[4] According to John Rewald, Post-Impressionism from van Gogh to Gauguin, 1956, p. 289, the painting was in a private collection in Scotland at that time; this is probably Cargill. See also Frances Fowle, Impressionism and Scotland, Exh. cat., National Galleries of Scotland, 2008, p. 127.
[5] Annotated sales catalogue in the library of the National Gallery of Scotland; Acciarri also listed in Paul Mellon papers in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1888

  • Boussod et Valadon, November 1888.

1889

  • Café Volpini, Paris, 1889, no. 36.

1911

  • Exhibition of Paintings by Paul Cezanne (1839-1906) and Paul Gauguin (1848-1903), Stafford Gallery, London, November 1911, no. 17.

1936

  • La vie ardente de Paul Gauguin, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, Paris, November 1936, no. 29.

  • Paul Gauguin, 1848-1903. A Retrospective Loan Exhibition for the Benefit of Les Amis de Paul Gauguin and The Penn Normal Industrial and Agricultural School, Wildenstein & Co., New York, March-April 1936, no. 8.

1966

  • French Paintings from the Collections of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon and Mrs. Mellon Bruce, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1966, no. 124, repro.

1986

  • Gifts to the Nation: Selected Acquisitions from the Collections of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, National Gallery of Art, Washington, July-October 1986, unnumbered checklist, repro.

  • Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, State Hermitage Museum, Leningrad; State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, January-May 1986.

1988

  • The Art of Paul Gauguin, National Gallery of Art, Washington; The Art Institute of Chicago; Grand Palais, Paris, 1988-1989, no. 44, repro.

  • The Pastoral Landscape: The Modern Vision, The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., 1988-1989, no. 118, fig. 217.

1989

  • Impressionisti della National Gallery of Art di Washington, Ala Napoleonica e Museo Correr, Venice; Palazzo Reale, Milan, 1989, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

1990

  • Französische Impressionisten und ihre Wegbereiter aus der National Gallery of Art, Washington und dem Cincinnati Art Museum, Neue Pinakothek, Munich, 1990, no. 67, repro.

1992

  • From El Greco to Cézanne: Masterpieces of European Painting from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and The Metroplitan Museum of Art, New York, National Gallery of Greece, Athens, 1992-1993, no. 66, repro.

1993

  • Van Gogh: His Sources, Genius and Influence, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 1993-1994, no. 24, repro.

1994

  • Gauguin and the School of Pont-Aven, The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, 1994-1995, addendum to the catalogue (exhibition had four other venues).

1996

  • La Ronde des petites Bretonnes: Une évocation de l'art de Pont-Aven autour du chef-d'oeuvre de Washington, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rennes, 1996-1997, unnumbered, repro.

1999

  • An Enduring Legacy: Masterpieces from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1999-2000, no cat.

2000

  • Paul Gauguin: Von der Bretagne nach Tahiti. Ein Aufbruch zur Moderne, Steiermärkisches Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz, Austria, 2000, no. 19, repro.

2001

  • Van Gogh and Gauguin: The Studio of the South, The Art Institute of Chicago; Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, 2001-2002, no. 28, repro.

2004

  • Gauguin and the Origins of Symbolism, Fundación Colección Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, 2004-2005, no. 31, repro.

2005

  • Gauguin's Vision, Royal Scottish Academy Building, Edinburgh, 2005, pl. 64.

2009

  • Paul Gauguin: Paris, 1889, The Cleveland Museum of Art; Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam [under the title: Paul Gauguin: The Breakthrough into Modernity], 2009-2010, no. 36, repro.

2010

  • Gauguin: Maker of Myth, Tate, London; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2010-2011, no. 48, repro. (shown only in London).

2011

  • Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; The National Art Center, Tokyo; Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, 2011, no. 18, repro.

2017

  • Gauguin: Artist as Alchemist, The Art Institute of Chicago; Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, 2017-2018, no. 46, repro.

2018

  • Japonismes / Impressionnismes, Musée des impressionnismes Giverny, 2018, no. 121, repro.

Bibliography

1925

  • Rotonchamp, Jean. Paul Gauguin 1848-1903. Paris, 1925: 64-66.

1936

  • Cogniat, Raymond. La Vie Ardente de Paul Gauguin. Paris, 1936: 38-39.

1944

  • Wilenski, R.H. Modern French Painters. London, 1944: 98.

1948

  • Malingue, Maurice. Gauguin: Le peintre et son oeuvre. Paris, 1948: repro.

1956

  • Rewald, John. Post-Impressionism from van Gogh to Gauguin. New York, 1956: 289, repro.

1963

  • Boudaille, Georges. Gauguin. Paris, 1963: repro. 68.

1964

  • Wildenstein, Georges. Gauguin. 2 vols. Paris, 1964: no. 251.

1966

  • French Paintings from the Collections of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon and Mrs. Mellon Bruce. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1966: repro. no. 124.

1973

  • Rewald, John. "Theo van Gogh, Goupil, and the Impressionists."Gazette des Beaux-Arts 1248 (January 1973): 32-33.

1983

  • Cooper, Douglas, ed. Paul Gauguin: 45 lettres à Vincent, Théo et Jo van Gogh. Collection Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam. The Hague and Lausanne, 1983: 48-51, 74-5, 117, 122-3, 126-9, 134-5, 138-141.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 522, no. 783, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 171, repro.

  • House, John. Impressionist Masterpieces. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1985: 106.

1986

  • Rewald, John. “Theo van Gogh as Art Dealer.” Reprinted in Studies in Post-Impressionism. New York, 1986: 35, 36, 109 n. 65, repro. 129.

1988

  • Bretell, Richard R. The Art of Paul Gauguin. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Art Institute of Chicago; Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris. Washington, D.C., 1988: 94-96, no. 44, repro..

1989

  • Solomon-Godeau, Abigail. "Going Native." Art in America 77, no. 7 (July 1989): repro. 121.

1990

  • Französische Impressionisten und ihre Wegbereiter aus der National Gallery of Art, Washington und dem Cincinnati Art Museum. Exh. cat. Neue Pinakothek, Munich, 1990: no. 67, repro.

1991

  • Coman, Florence E. Joie de Vivre: French Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1991: no. 24, repro.

  • Buisson, Sylvie. Danse et Danseurs en peinture. Paris, 1991: 45, repro.

1992

  • Denvir, Bernard, ed. Paul Gauguin: The Search for Paradise: Letters from Britanny and the South Seas. New York, 1992: 22, 43, repro.

1993

  • Thomson, Belinda, ed. Gauguin by Himself. New York, 1993: no. 87, repro.

  • Christensen, Carol. "The Painting Materials and Technique of Paul Gauguin." Studies in the History of Art 41 (1993): 86, repro. no. 17.

1997

  • Bücherwurm, Mein Lesebuch. 3 (1997): 125, repro.

1999

  • Stolwijk, Christ and Richard Thomson. Theo van Gogh: Art dealer, collector and brother of Vincent. Zwolle, 1999: 139, repro.

2000

  • Silverman, Debora. Van Gogh and Gauguin: The Search for Sacred Art. New York, 1000: 96, repro.

2001

  • Wildenstein, Daniel. Gauguin: Premier itinéraire d'un sauvage. Catalogue de l'oeuvre peint (1873-1888). 2 vols. Paris, 2001: 2:no. 296, repro.

  • Southgate, M. Therese. The Art of JAMA II: Covers and Essays from The Journal of the American Medical Association. Chicago, 2001: 18-19, 207, color repro.

2004

  • Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 376, no. 308, color repro.

2005

  • Thomson, Belinda. Vision of the Sermon: The story behind the Painting. Edinburgh, 2005: 23-24, repro.

2008

  • Fowle, Frances. Impressionism and Scotland. National Galleries of Scotland. Edinburgh, 2008: 127, Appendix 1, Scottish Collectors.

2014

  • Brettell, Richard R. “Gauguin: New York.” The Burlington Magazine 156, no. 1336 (2014): 482-483.

  • Figura, Starr, ed. Gauguin: Metamorphoses. Exh. cat. Museum of Modern Art. New York, 2014: 74, 76, 80, repros.

Inscriptions

lower right: P. Gauguin 88-

Wikidata ID

Q20189908

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