Émile Bernard
French, 1868–1941
Portrait de Madame Lemasson
1891
Bernard painted this portrait during one of his many trips to the Brittany region of northwestern France. The sitter, Madame Lemasson, is the innkeeper with whom Bernard stayed during his visits to the coastal town of Saint Briac between 1886 and 1892. Seated and knitting in front of a table adorned with a vase of flowers, Madame Lemasson wears the traditional headdress of the Breton people. The flattened forms, blocks of color, and strong contours demonstrate Bernard’s Synthetist style—a term he used to differentiate his work from that of the Impressionists.
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | Image: 18 1/8 × 21 5/8 in. (46 × 55 cm) |
| Object Number | 2016.3 |
| Acquisition | Acquired by the Clark, 2016 |
| Status | On View |
Image Caption
Émile Bernard, Portrait de Madame Lemasson, 1891, Oil on canvas. Clark Art Institute, Acquired by the Clark, 2016.3
