Portrait du père Tanguy

Émile Bernard's portrait of Père Tanguy (1887) depicts the beloved Parisian paint supplier and art dealer who extended credit to impoverished avant-garde painters — Van Gogh, Cézanne, and many others depended on his generosity. Van Gogh also painted Tanguy in 1887, making the two portraits direct contemporaries from painters who knew each other and were both in Tanguy's circle. Bernard's portrait, like Van Gogh's, treats Tanguy with affection and respect — the old Communist who survived the Paris Commune rendered as a sympathetic, rounded figure rather than a 'type'.

Bernard's Tanguy portrait shows his Cloisonnist approach developing — bolder outlines than conventional portraiture, color areas more deliberately simplified, the composition arranged with decorative intention. Japanese prints may appear in the background as they do in Van Gogh's version, reflecting the shared Japanese art enthusiasm of the artistic circle both painters inhabited. The portrait's warmth reflects the genuine regard Bernard felt for his subject.