1878 -1902 · Normandy, Brittany and Pacific

From the still impressionist landscape to the Tahitian blue trunks, Gauguin gradually transforms the observed place into an architecture of flat areas, contours and memories.

Gauguin's landscapes allow us to follow the evolution of his painting without reducing it in Tahiti. In Normandy and Rouen, the touch remains mobile and the light distributes houses, trees and water according to the impressionist heritage. In Brittany, the David mill and the Pouldu fields show a decisive change: paths, pastures and buildings become largely colored surfaces, sometimes surrounded, where the depth is deliberately compressed. The Pouldu Landscape of 1890 thus organizes green meadows, brown paths and distant houses into very readable areas. In Tahiti then in the Marquesas, blue trunks, horses, goats and figures enter landscapes which combine observation and memory and invention. Color no longer just describes the time; it differentiates between strengths, passages and presences. The "Landscapes of Paul Gauguin" selection notably compares Landscape in Normandy and Landscape of Brittany. The David mill. His reading favors drawing.

Gauguin's landscape becomes modern when color stops obeying the site and begins to organize a vision.