PAYSAN AUX TROIS VACHES

IN SEPTEMBER 1888, SéRUSIER MET GAUGUIN AT PONT-AVEN AND UNDER HIS INFLUENCE BEGAN TO EXPERIMENT WITH A NEW STYLE OF PAINTING IN WHICH SIMPLE FORMS AND FLAT COLOURS WERE CHOSEN FOR EMOTIONAL RATHER THAN DESCRIPTIVE REASONS. SéRUSIER WAS THE FIRST TO INTRODUCE THIS STYLE, OFTEN REFERRED TO AS SYNTHESISM OR CLOISONNISM, TO OTHER YOUNG ARTISTS IN PARIS, WHO WERE LATER TO BE KNOWN AS THE NABIS. HE EXPLAINED THAT "INSTEAD OF COPYING NATURE AS ONE PERCEIVED IT, IT SHOULD REPRESENT IT, TRANSMUTE IT INTO A PLAY OF VIVID COLOURS, EMPHASIZING SIMPLE, EXPRESSIVE, ORIGINAL ARABESQUES FOR THE PLEASURE OF THE EYE" (J. REWALD, POST-IMPRESSIONISM FROM VAN GOGH TO GAUGUIN, NEW YORK, 1956, P. 275).
SéRUSIER RETURNED TO BRITTANY FOR THE NEXT FEW SUMMERS, AND BECAME A PIVOTAL MEMBER OF THE SCHOOL OF PONT-AVEN.
GABRIELA ZAPOLSKA, THE CRITIC, DESCRIBED THE ARTIST IN 1893: "SON éTAT D'âME CONFèRE à SES TABLEAUX CE SYMBOLISME, CETTE EXPRESSION QUI RAVIT ET QUI EN DIT PLUS LONG QUE MILLE COMMENTAIRES OU ANECDOTES, SéRUSIER EST UN PRIMITIF, UN HARMONISTE QUI, POURSUIVANT L'EFFORT DE PUVIS DE CHAVANNES, CRéE DES CHEFS-D'OEUVRE; TELLES SES TOILES BRETONNES, AUSSI SIMPLES ET BELLES QUE L'âME DE LEUR CRéATEUR" (GUICHETEAU, P. 73).