Paul Gauguin - Christmas night 1894

Christmas night 1894
Christmas night
1894 27x32cm oil/canvas
Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

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From Indianapolis Museum of Art:
This enigmatic view of a winter night in Brittany is a fascinating blend of the imagery Gauguin found so compelling. The steeple and cottages are based on sites in Pont-Aven, yet the women wear the dark headdresses of Le Pouldu. The oxen derive from Egyptian motifs, while the figures in the Breton nativity shrine were inspired by a Javanese frieze.
Gauguin may have begun this canvas during his last Pont-Aven visit in 1894, but it was probably finished in the South Seas, where memories of Brittany still colored his work.