1983.52.FA Paul Sérusier, Celtic Tale, 1894

 

Two cloaked men, thought to be the artist and a companion, enter a mysterious landscape filled with sinuous, undulating lines and unexpected color combinations. A light-filled meadow where ethereal-looking women float among the trees is separated by a dark, rocky outcrop from a group of figures who somberly attend to a woman on the ground, perhaps evoking elements of an ancient Celtic death ritual. In 1888 Paul Serusier moved to an isolated area of France called Brittany, where he diligently studied the customs and religion of that region. The interrelationship of pagan and Christian rituals and the Celtic past of Brittany became the focus of many of his paintings.

Heather MacDonald, DMA label copy, 2010.

Paul Gauguin and the Nabi painters. (Nabi is the Hebrew word for prophet ). In Paul Serusier's Celtic Tale you may see both the influence of Gauguin's flat, decorative style and the Symbolist artists' fascination with dreams, myths and the fantasies of the unconscious mind, from which creativity arises. Here, several symbolic groups are combined into one intricate ornamental design. The old Celtic gods of Brittany are still present in their rocky cave, while present day Breton peasants wander under great stylized trees. In the distance , transparent celestial figures float in a paradisal meadow: The painting weaves together past and present, pagan and modern motifs, as in a tapestry of color. 

Place of origin: Pont-Aven (France): TGN: 7009441

Oil on canvas

TI Paul Sérusier, Celtic Tale

Apply to objects where number equals 1983.52.FA