Study for "Seaweed Gatherers, Yport"

1888

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Impressionism Realism Late 19th Century Religious

Dominant colour

Study for "Seaweed Gatherers, Yport" is a 1888 by Émile Schuffenecker, a Impressionism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Émile Schuffenecker
When & what style?: 1888 · Impressionism
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

You see two women in long skirts bending to collect seaweed on a rocky beach. This is a practice sketch—quick, loose lines show how Schuffenecker planned the final painting. He worked with Gauguin to invent a style that used flat colors and made-up scenes instead of copying real life. Look up the technique called *impasto* to see how thick paint can make a scene feel alive.

The story of this work

Overview

Claude-Emile Schuffenecker worked closely with Paul Gauguin to form Synthetism, a style of art that broke from Impressionism in favor of flat planes of bold color and invented subjects. This drawing is a study for one of Schuffenecker’s most important works, Seaweed Gatherers, Yport , which exists in two versions, one of which belongs to the Cleveland Museum of Art. The other version of the drawing (owned by the Art Institute of Chicago) was featured in an influential 1889 exhibition organized by Gauguin and Schuffenecker at the Café Volpini on the grounds of the Universal Exposition. Both…

Did you know?

Claude-Emile Schuffenecker met Paul Gauguin while the two were working at the same Parisian stockbrokerage. They both abandoned their jobs to become professional artists following a market crash in 1882.

Read the full account in the museum source.