Praying Breton girl / Young christian girl

This 1894 canvas of a praying Breton girl was painted after Gauguin returned briefly to France following his first Tahiti period. The Breton subject marks a return to his pre-Tahitian work but is viewed with new eyes: the piety of the young girl — hands clasped, head bowed in prayer — carries a different weight after his immersion in Polynesian spirituality. Gauguin was fascinated by sincere religious belief wherever he found it, seeing it as an antidote to what he considered the shallow materialism of modern European civilization. The Clark Art Institute canvas is a late Brittany work of great psychological stillness.

The figure is simplified and flattened in Gauguin's Synthetist manner, the dark Breton cap and dress creating strong value contrast with the pale praying hands. Bold outlines contain simplified color areas. The composition is frontal and concentrated, all attention focused on the act of prayer.