Synthetism

Synthetism is the name Post-Impressionist artists like Paul Gauguin, Émile Bernard, and Louis Anquetin gave to their break with Impressionism in the late 1880s. Working around Pont-Aven in Brittany, they sought to synthesize three things: the outward appearance of the subject, the artist's feelings about it, and the pure, flat means of painting itself. In practice that meant bold, unmodulated areas of color bounded by dark outlines (a manner known as cloisonnism), flattened space, and subjects drawn from Breton piety and rural life. The term derives from the French verb synthétiser, to combine into a new, complex product. Though it lasted only a few years and overlapped with Cloisonnism and later Symbolism, Synthetism's flat, decorative color opened the door to much of modern painting.

Defining characteristics

• Flat areas of bold, often non-naturalistic color
• Dark outlines enclosing the color areas (cloisonnism)
• Flattened space with little modeling or perspective depth
• Observed appearance fused with the artist's subjective feeling
• Decorative, rhythmic arrangement of forms across the canvas

Key figures

• Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) — Led the Pont-Aven circle and defined Synthetist practice in works like Vision After the Sermon
• Émile Bernard (1868-1941) — Developed the flat color and bold outline of cloisonnism alongside Gauguin
• Louis Anquetin (1861-1932) — Named among the artists who originated the approach
• Paul Sérusier (1864-1927) — Carried Synthetism to Paris in The Talisman (1888) and on to the Nabis

Example works

• Vision After the Sermon (Jacob Wrestling with the Angel) — Paul Gauguin (1888)
• The Talisman (Landscape at the Bois d'Amour) — Paul Sérusier (1888)
• The Yellow Christ — Paul Gauguin (1889)

Sources

• Synthetism - WikiArt institution
• Synthetism - Wikipedia encyclopedia

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