Vision After the Sermon
Paul Gauguin
1888
Breton women in traditional costume experience a shared vision of Jacob wrestling with an angel after listening to a Sunday sermon. The composition is divided by the diagonal trunk of an apple tree, separating the real world of the praying peasants in the foreground from the imagined spiritual realm above.
The painting shows the women with their backs to the viewer and eyes closed in prayer, positioned in the lower portion of the canvas. The wrestling figures of Jacob and the angel occupy the upper section against a striking red background.
The apple tree trunk serves as a traditional symbol of temptation, potentially referencing the Fall of Adam and Eve. The red background conveys power, violence, and spiritual intensity, while the closed eyes of the women represent inward spiritual vision.
Gauguin used flat, bold areas of color separated by clearly drawn contours with no color modeling or atmospheric softening. This approach prioritized expressive distortion and exaggeration over naturalistic representation.
The work became a pivotal moment in art history, demonstrating that artists could move beyond naturalism toward more abstract and symbolic modes of expression. It influenced the development of modern art movements throughout the twentieth century.
Tags
Craft
Movement
Post-Impressionism
Extended Impressionism with bold color, structural form, and symbolism, favoring emotional expression over optical accuracy.
