Émile Bernard

Émile Bernard was a French painter who helped invent Cloisonnism and Synthetism, styles with flat colour and dark outlines. He worked with Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh in the 1880s.

Born in Lille, he studied in Paris and worked in Brittany, painting Breton women in traditional dress. In 1888 at Pont-Aven he painted Breton Women in a Green Pasture, which impressed Gauguin and helped shape the new style. He painted harvesters, religious scenes and the woods around Pont-Aven. Later he travelled to Egypt, Spain and Italy, and his style became more traditional.

His works are in the Art Institute of Chicago and the Van Gogh Museum. In Buckwheat Harvesters at Pont-Aven, look at the bold outlines and the flat areas of bright colour.