The Pont-Aven landscapes of Émile Bernard can be divided largely into two categories: those exhibiting radical Synthetic techniques, full of radiant color, flat perspectives and spiritual subject matter and those like the present work, which are more naturalistic, if stylized, demonstrating Bernard’s profound admiration for Paul Cézanne (see fig. 1). Similar to Cézanne, Bernard employed constructed brushstrokes to depict volume in architecture and foliage. In contrast to his Synthetic compositions, the palette of these Cezannesque landscapes remain muted, the reddish-orange roofs of the houses and the cream-colored geese appearing as highlights in a sea of yellow-green and blue-green tones that give the rolling hills a sense of depth.

Bernard first encountered Cézanne’s paintings in Père Tanguy’s shop in 1886, visiting on two subsequent occasions in 1904 and 1905. In an article in Mercure de France in 1907, Bernard calls Cézanne “his master...his mentor from the very first” (quoted in Émile Bernard 1869-1941, A Pioneer of Modern Art (exhibition catalogue), Städtische Kunsthalle, Mannheim & Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, 1990, p. 21). Bernard’s warm feelings toward Cézanne appear to have been reciprocated, if the correspondence between the two is any indication. “For us men, nature has more depth than surface,” Cézanne wrote to Bernard in 1904, “hence the need to introduce in our vibrations of light, represented by reds and yellows, enough blue tints to give a feeling of air…I would like to say that I have had another look at your study of the ground floor of the studio, it is good. All you need to do, I think, is to continue along these lines, you have an understanding of what ought to be done, and you will soon be able to turn your back on the Gauguins and Van Goghs!” (Alex Danchev, ed., The Letters of Paul Cézanne, Los Angeles, 2016, n.p.).