Interior, Pont-Aven

Paul Serusier painted Interieur de pension a Pont-Aven in 1888 shortly before meeting Paul Gauguin and receiving his famous “free lesson”. This naturalist painting depicts a scene from the daily life of a Breton couple in the dark interior of a thatched cottage. The two figures were models who obligingly posed in working clothes to portray peasant life in a timeless and conventional fashion. This work serves to illustrate the radical change of style that the artist subsequently undertook in Pont-Aven.