Self-Portrait with Portrait of Gauguin - Emile Bernard
Archival giclée
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Description
A 1888 self-portrait by Emile Bernard, featuring a portrait of Paul Gauguin in the background and dedicated to Vincent van Gogh.
Painted in 1888, this work by Emile Bernard captures the artistic climate of late nineteenth-century France. Bernard, a central figure in the development of Cloisonnism, employs flat areas of colour and bold outlines to define his subject. The composition features the artist in the foreground, his gaze directed toward the viewer, while a portrait of Paul Gauguin hangs on the wall behind him. This inclusion serves as a visual acknowledgement of the artistic dialogue between the two painters during their time in Pont-Aven.
The painting is notable for its simplified forms and the deliberate rejection of traditional modelling. Bernard uses a restricted palette, dominated by cool blue tones that unify the background and create a sense of spatial ambiguity. The figure of Gauguin is rendered with minimal detail, appearing as a sketch or a secondary image within the frame. This technique reflects the influence of Japanese woodblock prints, which were widely collected and studied by artists of the period.
Bernard dedicated this work to Vincent van Gogh, as indicated by the inscription in the upper right corner. The exchange of self-portraits was a common practice among these artists, functioning as a means of maintaining connection and sharing stylistic innovations. By placing his own likeness alongside that of Gauguin, Bernard positions himself within the avant-garde circle of the time. The work remains a clear example of the shift toward symbolic and expressive painting, moving away from the observational methods of the Impressionists. The flat application of paint and the emphasis on contour lines demonstrate the technical experimentation that defined Bernard's early career. This print offers a view into the collaborative spirit and the aesthetic theories that shaped the Post-Impressionist movement.
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Each print is produced to order using 12-colour giclée printing on FSC-certified archival paper. Designed in Britain and printed at your nearest production hub to reduce waste and speed up delivery.
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Specific Features
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- Museum-grade giclée printing for rich, fade-resistant colour
- Archival matte fine-art paper, FSC-certified
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- Frames in black, natural wood, dark wood or white
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- Dust gently with a soft, dry cloth
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Materials & Sizing
Museum-grade giclée on FSC-certified archival matte paper, with framed and canvas options.
- Paper sizes: A4, A3, A2, A1, A0 and B2 (50×70 cm)
- Canvas: XS (20×30 cm) to Large (60×90 cm)
- Frames: black, natural wood, dark wood or white
Self-Portrait with Portrait of Gauguin - Emile Bernard
Artist Biography
Emile Bernard
He was raised by his grandmother, who owned a laundry in Lille, because his younger sister was ill and required his parents' full attention. He entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris but was expelled for insubordination. At the Academie Cormon he met Toulouse-Lautrec and Van Gogh; his friendship with Van Gogh produced some of the most important letters in art history.
Bernard and Gauguin fell out definitively in 1891 over the paternity of Symbolism and cloisonnism. Bernard believed he had been written out of the story, which he had. He spent years writing criticism and art history to set the record straight, producing first-hand accounts of the period that remain primary sources.
His later work turned conservative. He travelled to Egypt, studied the Old Masters, and repudiated the avant-garde experiments of his youth. The early paintings, made between 1886 and 1897 when he was barely out of his teens, are the ones that matter. He was brilliant too young and spent the rest of his career looking backwards. His correspondence with Van Gogh, preserved and published, is one of the most direct records of how two young painters in the 1880s thought about colour, composition and what painting was for.
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