Paul SÉRUSIER
The soil of Brittany
(La Terre bretonne)
1892-1893
published in L'Épreuve, vol. 4, March 1895

Medium
lithograph printed in grey ink

Measurements
23.7 × 21.8 cm (image) 38.1 × 28.1 cm (sheet)

Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased through The Art Foundation of Victoria with the assistance of Coles Myer Ltd, Governor, 1989

Gallery location
Late 19th & early 20th Century Paintings & Decorative Arts Gallery
Level 2, NGV International

About this work

Inspired by Gauguin, whom he met in Pont Aven in 1888, Paul Sérusier carried his revelation back to Paris, where he founded the Nabis, a ‘semi-secret, semi-serious’ group of rebellious art students, who took their name from the Hebrew word for ‘prophet’. Their influences included contemporary illustration and caricature, Parisian theatre, Japanese art and design, Symbolism and Synthetism. Sérusier made fewer prints than his Pont-Aven peers, favouring Breton subjects such as the difficult life of Breton peasants and their unity with the land they worked on.