The Red Tree

In 1888, Filiger moved to Pont-Aven, where he met Gauguin and his friends at the Pension Gloanec. He abandoned a naturalist style for the principles of Synthetism and, like an illustrator of popular images, began to create small scenes in gouache that he called “little illuminations” and that are commonly known as Notations chromatiques (Colour Notations). They represent around a third of his works and depict landscapes or religious scenes set in Le Pouldu. The influence of Japonism is evident in this Breton landscape, particularly in the slanting tree.