The Talisman
Paul Sérusier
PAUL SÉRUSIER, 1888. OIL ON WOOD.
Armed with only a letter of introduction from Paul Gaugin, a young 24 year old artist left Paris, heading west towards an artist commune on the Brittany coast. Paul Sérusier was determined to reconnect with nature having completed his studies in the capital, and began to paint landscapes at Port-Aven. On a walk through the idyllic countryside with Gaugin, the older artist asked Sérusier, ‘"How do you see these trees? They're yellow. So, put some yellow. This shadow, it's rather blue, paint it with pure ultramarine. Those red leaves? Put vermillion.” He listened, and this, the resulting work, changed the course of art history. Nature was represented not for its likeness but for its visual sensation, reduced to flat planes and simple colours. Tt was a conclusion to the direction the Impressionists and the first work of the ‘Nabis’, a name taken from the Hebrew word for ‘Prophets’. The name ‘The Talisman’ was given to the painting by the group, it representing the entire movement into modernity and becoming a work of holy importance.