Portrait of Marie Lagadu

One of Paul Serusier’s early works, Portrait de Marie Lagadu was painted in Pont-Aven in 1889. Serusier met Marie Lagadu in a Pont-Aven boarding-house, where she worked as a servant. Boarding-house workers were often willing to sit for the painters. This three-quarter portrait of the model is of historical interest, as it depicts the working headdress typical in Pont-Aven. This was one of the first paintings Serusier made at Pont-Aven in which he fully applied the principles expounded by Gauguin in the Bois d’Amour.