Portrait of Philibert Favre

Gauguin's portrait of Philibert Favre (1885) depicts a figure from his French artistic and social circle — Favre was presumably a friend or acquaintance from the bourgeois world Gauguin inhabited before his decisive turn toward the Bohemian and exotic life he would later embrace. His 1885 portraits show him still working within the Impressionist tradition while already developing the formal ambitions that would lead to Synthetism. The portrait of a specific named individual rather than a type shows his engagement with individual human character alongside his developing formal concerns.

Gauguin's 1885 portrait shows his Impressionist-influenced handling still operative — the face modeled through tonal observation, the brushwork varied and responsive to the quality of light. His compositional instincts are already more deliberate than pure Impressionism would require, and his palette shows the warming and enrichment that would characterize his Synthetist period. The psychological engagement with his subject is consistent throughout his portraiture.