Paul Gauguin (1848–1903)
Joys of Brittany, from the Volpini Suite, 1889
Zincograph on yellow wove paper
Sheet: 17 ¼ x 21 1/4 in. (43.9 x 53.9 cm)
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, 1962.58
This image of girls in regional dress performing a traditional dance is characteristic of the bucolic themes of Gauguin’s work in Brittany. With the deliberate naiveté of his manner and the mask-like faces of the young dancers, the artist sought to evoke the primitive quality that he perceived in this region of northern France.