The Nabis revolutionized the way Breton landscapes were painted. Between 1888 and 1900, these young revolutionary artists made Brittany their testing ground. Their mission? To abandon the faithful reproduction of nature to create something radically new, by joining the movement of post-impressionism and symbolism.
The techniques of stylizing Breton landscapes by the Nabis
Imagine a landscape where everything is simplified to the extreme. The Nabis, led by Paul Sérusier and Maurice Denis, reduced the Breton nature to its essential forms. No more meticulous details of the Impressionists. Place for pure geometric shapes.
Take The Washerwomen at Laïta (1892) by Sérusier. The Breton river becomes a totally flat blue surface. The fields? Rectangles of bright colors - red, gold. The granite rocks transform into masses of color without nuances. The famous Breton moors become abstract areas where only the composition counts.
This method eliminates everything that is anecdotal. No small herbs, subtle reflections, picturesque details. The Nabis seek the deep structure of the landscape. According to art historians, they produced more than 200 works in Brittany during their most creative period (Source: Pont-Aven Museum). An impressive figure that shows their obsession for this territory.
Color flats and dark halos in Breton Nabis landscapes
It all starts with a lesson from Paul Gauguin to Sérusier in 1888, at the Bois d'Amour in Pont-Aven. "Do you see this tree? Is it green? Then put the most intense green of your palette. This shadow is blue? Paint it as blue as possible."
This conversation produces The Talisman, a small revolutionary painting where the Breton forest explodes in color flats. No gradations, no subtle shadows. Just areas of frank color that vibrate side by side. This approach marks the birth of synthetism.
The Nabis apply this technique to all their Breton landscapes. Sérusier transforms a forest into Red Wood (1895) - red everywhere, no compromise. Georges Lacombe stylizes the Breton waves in his Marines (1892-1894) with circular motifs delimited by dark halos. These black or dark blue outlines separate each element as in a medieval stained glass window.
Maurice Denis surrounds each tree trunk with a thick line in The Green Trees of Kerduel (1893). Result? A Breton landscape that looks like a modern tapestry. Color becomes expressive rather than descriptive. A field can be bright red if the artist feels it so. The intensely yellow sky in some works defies all naturalistic logic.
This decorative approach continues to influence contemporary creation. We find these stylization principles in many landscape paintings today that perpetuate the Nabi legacy.
The high horizon line: a visual signature of Breton Nabis landscapes
Spot a Breton Nabi painting and you'll immediately notice: the horizon is placed very high. This distinctive technique overturns all academic rules of perspective.
Why do this? By raising the horizon, the Nabis give almost all of the canvas space to what really interests them: Breton vegetation, rocks, characters in traditional costumes. In Les Laveuses à la Laïta, Sérusier raises the horizon so high that the river and fields literally flood the canvas.
This technique produces powerful effects:
- Space becomes totally flat, as if crushed
- The landscape transforms into a two-dimensional decorative surface
- Typically Breton motifs (calvaires, moors, headdresses) occupy the foreground
- The plunging view recalls Japanese prints that fascinated artists at the time, illustrating the influence of japonisme
Maurice Denis excels in this approach. In Landscape with Green Trees, Breton trunks occupy 80% of the vertical composition. Jan Verkade goes even further in his Breton Landscapes (1891-1892): the horizon rises so high that the sky almost completely disappears. Only the Breton countryside remains with its mystical motifs.
The influence of cloisonnism on the stylization of Breton landscapes
Cloisonnism was born in Pont-Aven in 1888 from the explosive meeting between Gauguin and Émile Bernard. The technique? Outline each motif with a dark line to create compartments of color. Art critic Édouard Dujardin invented this name thinking of medieval stained glass windows and cloisonné enamels.
In a Breton Nabi landscape, cloisonnism organizes everything. Black outlines separate the sky from the fields, trees from paths, rocks from waves. Each zone becomes autonomous, independent. Gauguin's The Vision after the Sermon masterfully applies this principle, even though the scene is mental rather than real.
Sérusier immediately adopts the method. In The Flowering Barrier (1889), each element of the Breton landscape is isolated by a vigorous outline. The result? A mosaic of vibrant colors where nature becomes a geometric motif.
But cloisonnism does more than structure the composition. It reinforces the sacred dimension that the Nabis seek in Breton landscapes. Forests become natural cathedrals. Calvaires acquire a monumental presence. Moors transform into mystical spaces where a primitive spirituality hovers.
Charles Filiger pushes the technique to the extreme in his Colored Notations (1890-1892). His Breton landscapes border on pure abstraction, foreshadowing the research of the 20th century.
The Nabis and the transposition of Breton landscapes into decorative surfaces
Maurice Denis summarizes the Nabi philosophy in a famous formula: "A painting - before being a Breton landscape - is essentially a flat surface covered with colors assembled in a certain order."
This vision radically transforms the status of landscape. Brittany is no longer a subject to be faithfully reproduced, but a source of decorative motifs to be freely composed. The Nabis reject the traditional hierarchy between "high" painting and applied arts.
What does this actually look like? Stylized Breton landscapes are everywhere: tapestries, stained glass windows, screens, embroideries. Marguerite Sérusier and other wives of Nabi artists create embroideries based on the compositions of their husbands. Georges Lacombe sculpts woods where Breton waves become pure arabesques.
This decorative approach responds to a social demand. The bourgeoisie of the late 19th century, enriched by industrialization, demands modern decor for its interiors. Breton Nabi landscapes adorn Parisian salons, avant-garde theaters like the Théâtre de l'Œuvre, literary reviews such as La Revue Blanche.
Decorative aesthetics also allows for a democratization of art. Thanks to lithographs, prints and posters, stylized Breton motifs become accessible to the general public. Between 1891 and 1900, Nabi exhibitions present these works as models of a modernity that directly influences Art Nouveau and prepares the avant-gardes of the following century.
FAQ - The Nabis and Breton landscapes
What is the main difference between an Impressionist landscape and a Breton Nabi landscape?
The Impressionists sought to capture the real light and atmosphere of a Breton landscape, while the Nabis radically stylized nature using blocks of pure color, dark outlines, and a very high horizon line. For the Nabis, a Breton landscape was not a scene to be faithfully reproduced but a decorative surface to be freely composed with simplified shapes and expressive colors.
Why did the Nabis choose Brittany as an experimental ground?
Brittany offered several advantages to the Nabis: a low cost of living, a strong artistic presence in Pont-Aven thanks to Gauguin, and above all a territory perceived as primitive and spiritual. Breton landscapes with their calvaries, mystical moors, and traditional costumes corresponded to their quest for a sacred and symbolic art, far from industrialized Parisian modernity.
How can you recognize a Breton landscape painted by the Nabis?
A Breton Nabi landscape is recognizable by several visual signatures: blocks of bright colors without gradation, dark outlines that define each shape as in a stained glass window, a very high horizon line that flattens space, extreme geometric simplification of natural forms, and total absence of academic perspective. The work looks more like a decorative tapestry than a naturalist representation.
