Visitors to the Musée d’Orsay in Paris can admire a new acquisition, Garçon breton de profil (Breton boy in profile), a painting by Irish artist Roderic O’Conor (1860–1940), displayed alongside works by Émile Bernard and Paul Gauguin. Measuring some 30cm by 44cm, and dating from 1893, the painting did not come cheap. At €200,000, the painting represents a substantial outlay on the part of the French state cultural sector. Its acquisition was aided by the association Société des Amis des Musées d’Orsay et de l’Orangerie. Last exhibited in public in the mid-1950s, Garçon breton de profil remained in a private collection until 2020. Pandemic restrictions meant that the painting has only recently gone on display at the museum.
Born in Co Roscommon, O’Conor moved to Paris in 1887, enrolling at the studio of Carolus-Duran. He made the first of several visits to Pont-Aven in Brittany, where his friendship with Émile Bernard was of key importance to his development as an artist. Bernard showed him a series of letters from Vincent van Gogh, some illustrated with drawings, which made a profound impression on the Irish artist. O’Conor spent a great deal of time in Brittany, staying at Pont-Aven and Le Pouldu, painting landscapes and portraits and in 1894 forming a friendship with Paul Gauguin.
Garçon breton de profil represents a key period in O’Conor’s career and was radical for its time: the paint is heavily impastoed, with juxtaposed passages of vivid red and green. Using complementary colours heightens the visual impact of the work, which departs from academic conventions of representing the human figure. The boy’s profile is emphasised with a light-green circle, distinguishing it from the background.
While Garçon breton de profil is a long-overdue addition to the French national art holdings, works by O’Conor can be seen in several Irish museums, including the Hugh Lane Gallery, the National Gallery of Ireland and the Crawford Art Gallery.
Peter Murray
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