Emile Bernard

Painter, engraver, philosopher, art critic – above all, Emile Bernard was a pioneer of cloisonnism, a style of painting whose stylised forms and flat planes of colour is also associated with the work of Gaugin, Van Gogh and the Nabis. However, with the emergence of symbolism, too radical perhaps for Bernard, the artist joined up with a more traditional approach, going as far as to denounce the avant-garde, though without breaking off with them socially. The exhibiiton at the Orangerie revisits this uneven career.