1856 -1913 · Brittany, Pont-Aven and impressionism

Cliffs of Brittany, ports of Doëlan and mists of Ouessant find in Henry Moret a singular balance between synthesist construction and impressionist vibration.

Henry Moret was born in Cherbourg in 1856. His training passed through Lorient then Paris, where he attended the academic workshops of Jean-Léon Gérôme and Jean-Paul Laurens. However, it was the Breton coast which lastingly determined his painting. Moret discovered Pont-Aven in the 1880s and settled in 1888 in Pouldu, at the time when Paul Gauguin and his companions were experimenting with synthetism. Upon contact with them, he simplified the reliefs, reinforced the contours and used more frank color accords. This lesson, however, does not lock him into a formula. From their contact, he simplified the reliefs, reinforced the contours and used more frank color accords. This lesson does not lock him into a formula. From their contact, he simplified the reliefs, reinforced the contours and used more frank color accords. This lesson does not, however, lock him into a formula. From the 1890s, Moret found a more divided and mobile touch, attentive to variations in the air and the sea. He thus constructs one personal language: the decorative solidity inherited from Pont-Aven supports an impressionist perception of time. Linked to the merchant Paul Durand-Ruel, he exhibited in Paris and reached an international audience without leaving his Breton motifs. Doëlan, Belle-Île, Groix, Ouessant and the points of Finistère become the stations of tireless observation. In Doëlan Landscape with White Sail, the boat provides clear punctuation in the middle of the masses of coastline and water. Misty morning in Ouessant brings the tones together until you feel the humidity and distance. The foggy morning in Ouessant brings the tones together until you feel the humidity and distance. The foggy morning in Ouessant brings the tones together until you feel the humidity and distance. The foggy morning in Ouessant brings the tones together until you feel the humidity and distance. The Cliffs from Port-Domois to Belle-Île bring together the tones until you feel the humidity and distance. The foggy morning in Ouessant brings the tones together until you feel the humidity and distance. The foggy morning in Ouessant brings the tones together until you feel the humidity and distance. The Cliffs from Port-Domois to Belle-Île bring together the tones until you feel the humidity and distance. The foggy morning in Ouessant brings the tones together until you feel the de Doëlan associates human shelter with maritime power. Moret often paints outdoors, but his compositions are never mere notations. Curves of the shore, rocks, diagonals of the sails and horizons are carefully ordered. Died in Paris in 1913, he left a sensitive map of Brittany, crossed by changes in light, season and tide. The "Henry Moret" selection notably compares Doëlan's Landscape with White Sail and Misty Morning in Ouessant. His reading favors composition.

Moret gives the Breton coast a double presence: the stable architecture of the capes and cliffs, then the ever-starting vibration of light, wind and sea.