Pierre Bonnard
Pierre Bonnard was a French Nabi painter known for richly colored domestic interiors, gardens, patterned surfaces, and intimate scenes from daily life.
Painter
Paul Sérusier
Paul Sérusier was a French Nabi painter whose small work The Talisman helped inspire simplified landscapes and bold, independent color in painting.
Paul Sérusier quick facts
Sérusier brought Gauguin's Pont-Aven approach to young Paris painters; his 1888 oil-on-wood study became a shared reference point for the Nabis.
| Full name | Paul Sérusier |
|---|---|
| Born | 1864 · Paris, France |
| Died | 1927 · Morlaix, France |
| Nationality | French |
| Movements | Nabis; Pont-Aven School |
| Paint types | Oil paint · Tempera |
| Other media | Lithography |
| Other materials | — |
| Painting surfaces | Canvas · Wood · Research by Musée d’Orsay suggests The Talisman was painted on a small poplar panel, not a cigar-box lid |
| Painting methods | Painted large, flat passages of contrasting color, made small oil studies on wood panels, and used preparatory drawings |
| Common subjects | Brittany woods, fields, Breton villagers, studio objects, religious scenes, and stylized natural forms |
| Notable works | The Talisman (Landscape at the Bois d'Amour) · Breton Wrestling · Nature morte: l'atelier de l'artiste · The Shower |
Sources: Musée d'Orsay: The Talisman, oil on wood, Musée d'Orsay: material history of The Talisman, Musée d'Orsay: Breton Wrestling, oil on canvas, Musée d'Orsay: Still Life, oil on canvas.
Paint types used by Paul Sérusier
Records document Paul Sérusier’s use of Oil paint, Tempera, with examples below linking each medium to a specific work and its role in the image.
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Oil paint
Musée d’Orsay identifies Sérusier’s The Talisman (Landscape at the Bois d’Amour) as oil on a small poplar panel. Its flat color and simplified forms embody the Nabi interest in painting as an arrangement of color rather than a literal view. The museum also records Breton Wrestling as oil on canvas, showing his use of the same medium on another support.
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Tempera
Musée d’Orsay catalogs Sérusier’s Bretonne donnant à manger aux cochons as tempera on canvas. The record names the medium without specifying its binder, so this entry does not claim egg tempera. It documents tempera as part of his practice alongside the oil landscapes and figure scenes.
Sources: Musée d'Orsay: The Talisman, oil on wood; Musée d'Orsay: material history of The Talisman; Musée d'Orsay: Breton Wrestling, oil on canvas; Musée d'Orsay: Bretonne donnant à manger aux cochons, tempera on canvas.
Painting surfaces used by Paul Sérusier
Documented works by Paul Sérusier use Canvas, Wood, with examples below clarifying when a material is a painted ground, backing, or constructed element.
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Canvas
Sérusier’s paintings include works on canvas, including Musée d’Orsay’s Breton Wrestling and Bretonne donnant à manger aux cochons. The first is oil and the second tempera; these records show two paint media applied to the same flexible support. The museum records confirm both media on canvas.
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Wood
His landmark The Talisman is documented as oil on a small poplar panel. The rigid wood support carries its simplified landscape and flat areas of color, making the panel itself part of the work’s deliberate, portable character. The small panel made this landscape portable.
Sources: Musée d'Orsay: The Talisman, oil on wood, Musée d'Orsay: material history of The Talisman, Musée d'Orsay: Breton Wrestling, oil on canvas, Musée d'Orsay: Still Life, oil on canvas.
Painters similar to Paul Sérusier
Denis developed ideas from Sérusier's early experiments, and Gauguin helped shape the simplified color approach that Sérusier applied in The Talisman.
Paul Gauguin
Paul Gauguin was a French Post-Impressionist painter known for bold flat colors, simplified forms, and paintings made in Brittany and French Polynesia.