WHAT GAUGIN KNEW

Painted in 1888 in Brittany, Vision After The Sermon is one of several works with which Paul Gaugin pays tribute to the simple faith of uneducated believers. He would later pursue the same course amongst the pagan tribes of Tahiti, but here it is Catholic women – Breton peasants – who occupy his attention. As is often the case with Gaugin, the painting’s title is as important as its content. The title tells us all we need to know about the scene that is depicted. The women are on their way home from church, having just listened to a sermon on Genesis 32:22-32. The story of Jacob wrestling with the angel has so gripped them that they can picture it happening – not in far-away bible lands but right here, in Brittany, before their very eyes. Gaugin uses the device of a large tree branch to separate the field of vision from the field of reality, with the deep red background adding an ethereal quality to the whole scene.