Ferdinand Puigaudeau: Mysticism before Surrealism — re-exploring an exceptional movement

In 1886, Puigaudeau made his first visit to the quiet seaside village of Pont-Aven. There he booked a room at Gloanec’s, a popular hotel for artists on a budget. It so happened that Paul Gauguin was also making his first visit and staying at the same hotel. Puigaudeau, along with a small number of aspiring artists, was in a wholly unique position of observing and working collectively to create a new movement in a remote area of France. Inspired by their contact with Gauguin, a number of these artists developed a radical direction in painting.

 

Puigaudeau adopted some of the tenets of this new mode, including a heightened palette and vigorous brushwork reminiscent of Pointillism. He had a passion for the subtleties of light in all its forms and a particular affinity for moonlit landscapes, while his sunlit seascapes radiate a suffusion of light. In a letter to his cousin, Alphonse de Châteaubriant, he described this approach as “renewing the identity” of the subject matter.

Sadly, while Puigaudeau perhaps more than any other artist explored ideas connected to mysticism and Symbolism, he has not been given sufficient credit for his contribution to this period and his focused exploration of these ideas. A major work like this would restore and widen the perspective of this important painter’s contribution. Gauguin, Degas, Rysselberghe, Ensor, and Bernard all figure within this broader context. Degas affectionately referred to Puigaudeau as the “Hermit of Kervaudu,” yet he is rarely seen alongside his contemporaries.