The Island of Raguenez, Brittany

Henri Moret (1856-1913) was a French painter who worked in Brittany and is associated with the Pont-Aven School, the group of painters around Paul Gauguin who developed the Synthetist manner characterized by bold outlines and flat areas of color. The Island of Raguenez, Brittany from 1890-95 depicts the Brittany coast with the bold color and simplified forms that Moret developed under Gauguin's influence. The 1890-95 date places this in Moret's most productive period, when he was producing the Breton landscapes and seascapes that are his most accomplished works, combining the Synthetist influence of Pont-Aven with his own more naturalistic tendency toward atmospheric effect.

The Island of Raguenez is important in the history of the Pont-Aven School because it demonstrates how Moret adapted the Synthetist manner of Pont-Aven to his own more naturalistic tendency toward atmospheric effect. Moret's Breton seascapes combine Gauguin's bold outlines and simplified forms with a more naturalistic treatment of light and atmosphere, creating a type of Pont-Aven painting that is both Synthetist and atmospheric—a combination that distinguishes Moret from the more radical simplification of Gauguin and the Pont-Aven group.

The Island of Raguenez is Moret's Breton Synthetism with atmospheric effect: the Brittany coast rendered with the bold outlines and simplified forms of Pont-Aven combined with a naturalistic treatment of light and atmosphere. The 1890-95 painting shows the Pont-Aven School's influence adapted to Moret's own more atmospheric manner.