Portrait of Madeline, the Artist's Sister

Painted in 1889, this portrait of Émile Bernard's sister Madeleine is one of the most direct personal works of this important Post-Impressionist theorist and painter. Bernard was a close friend and correspondent of both Van Gogh and Gauguin, and Madeleine appears in several significant works of the period. This portrait, now in the University of Kentucky Art Museum, shows Bernard's move toward a more Synthetist approach — flat color areas, simplified contours — that he was developing in dialogue with Gauguin at Pont-Aven and that would mark his lasting contribution to modern art.

Bernard renders his sister with the simplified drawing and relatively flat color areas characteristic of his Cloisonnist-Synthetist approach. The portrait avoids the atmospheric dissolution of Impressionism in favor of more defined contours and evenly applied color, reflecting the theoretical concerns he shared with Gauguin.