Émile Bernard

(French, 1868-1941)

French artist Émile Henri Bernard is as well-known for his friendships with fellow artists Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Paul Cézanne as he is for his creative works. Highly acclaimed as a Post-Impressionist painter, Bernard also experimented with Cloisonnism and Synthetism, and was an accomplished writer, poet and art critic. His most notable works were accomplished at a young age, from 1886 to 1897.

Born in Lille, France in 1868, Bernard was raised primarily by his grandmother. He moved to Paris with his family in 1878, and spent his formative artistic years influenced by the dominant Impressionist style of the time. Bernard began his artistic pursuits at the École des Arts Décoratifs. In 1884 he also began studying at the art school Atelier Cormon, where he was introduced to Impressionism and Pointillism and became friends with Toulouse-Lautrec. Bernard was eventually expelled from art school for "showing expressive tendencies.”

Not one to be stopped, Bernard began exploring the South of France, where he quickly became enamored by the landscape and natural light of Brittany. In August 1886, he met Gauguin at Pont-Aven, He was always a firm believer that his already-developed artistic style had a great influence upon Gauguin’s style at the time. Upon his return to Paris, Bernard met van Gogh. An enduring but charged friendship developed between Bernard, Gauguin and van Gogh, which resulted in closely linked artistic experimentation among the trio. Bernard was the first to take note of van Gogh’s work, and the two maintained correspondence for many years. After van Gogh’s death, Bernard arranged for an exhibition of the late artist’s work.

In the late 1880s, Bernard, along with Louis Anquetin, experimented with Cloisonnism, as well as Synthesism, an art style in which form and color is synthesized with the artist’s vision. Bernard also experimented with Symbolism in both art and literature. His style, featuring primarily religious motifs, was defined by strong outlines, flat color, and an expressive, unnatural color palette.

Bernard toured Italy in 1894 and then settled in Egypt for 10 years. Returning to France in 1904, he published his correspondence with van Gogh, Gauguin and other artists. Bernard died in Paris on April 16, 1941. He is highly regarded as an imperative force in the development of modern art. Today, his works are held in the collections of the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.