While walking at the Pouldu, on the Côte de la Côte, it is impossible to miss the panels installed along our hike. There are 19, showing paintings by Paul Sérusier, Charles Filiger, but the one who emerges is none other than Paul Gauguin. Ultimate reference to this name that bears his name, right next to the beach refreshment bar. Gauguin put his suitcases there in the XIXe century, far from the crowd of Pont-Aven.
“I like Brittany, I find the savage, the primitive. When my hooves resonate on this granite soil, I hear the deaf, matt and powerful sound that I am looking for in painting ”. This is how Paul Gauguin described Brittany in 1888. So, today, starting from this sentence, more than a hundred years after his passage to the Pouldu, what remains of him?
Tourists from far away
It is during a sunny afternoon, sunglasses on the forehead and sunscreen in the bag, that you can see a couple in hiking clothes near the beach refreshment bar.
“We are halfway through the painters,” says the Belgian duo, who came on vacation here. “We went through Pont-Aven, before arriving at the Pouldu, especially for Gauguin”. Tourists remain impressed by his works, but regret that the interpretation center is still under construction. Here they are left for the painters’ path. In pursuit of the landscapes that inspired the artists who came here. On the beach bar side, David Coquelet, the manager, says he has no return from customers to the center, however neighboring his establishment. “We hope that the summer season and the reopening will attract more people,” he adds. An opening that should delight art lovers and the most specialized.
A few steps from there, an artist’s workshop. The Doëlanaise catches the eye with her colorful works. Cécile Ollier, artist of the place, offers paintings and illustrations inspired by the sea. “It is magical to say that an artist like Gauguin walked on this soil”, delivers Cécile who, however, does not directly inspire Gauguin in her works. Many of his visitors tell him about their passages to Pont-Aven and their common passion for art as a way of finding themselves. The interest in Gauguin at the Pouldu also manifests itself through the landscapes themselves. Despite their evolution over time, they keep the light and the colors with which they were painted.
The painters’ path, inaugurated in 2003, is dotted with 19 explanatory panels. It is an open -air gallery and an invitation to see the Pouldu with the eyes of the artists who walked it, like Gauguin.
Maison Marie-Henry, now a refreshment bar, is a historic anchor point and a witness to Gauguin stays. She is neighboring at the interpretation center, which will reopen this Sunday, July 6, after large -scale work: an immersive path, new paintings and a desire to take the public closest to the painter. Workshops with students of all ages will be organized.
The force of Gauguin in the territory weighs on its ability to bring together and unify through generations. Like this Belgian couple, ready to go for miles to find this artist. But also future students who will come here in the Pas de Gauguin.
