I really dig this Self Portrait Les Miserables painting by Paul Gauguin. It is an example of the Symbolic art movement that I’ve been reading about….and it has a really cool story!

Three artists, Gauguin, Van Gogh and Emile Bernard decided to swap pictures of themselves…self portraits…as testament to their friendship. [A lot better than the stickers I used to exchange with my friends in grade school]. But they would also put another artist’s portrait in the background.

This was Gauguin’s art. For his portrait, he imprinted himself on the face of Les Miserables character, Jean Valjean. By doing this, he wanted to show a similarity between him and the main character of the story, who stole a loaf of bread and is forever branded a criminal By doing him with my features, you have my individual image, as well as a portrait of us all, poor victims of society, taking our revenge on it by doing good’.

That is Emile Bernard‘s portrait in the corner.

The cheerful floral pattern on the wall symbolizes ‘our artistic virginity.’

#art, #artist, #arthistory, #lesmiserables, #paulgauguin, #vangogh, #emilebernard, #postimpressionistart. #symbolistart