Emile Henri Bernard Biography
Émile Bernard (Lille, 28 April 1868 – Paris, 16 April 1941) was a French neo-impressionist painter. In 1884 he began to frequent Fernand Cormon's atelier, an experience that proved very happy for his work, because there he met Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Vincent van Gogh, with whom he formed a lasting and sincere friendship; but above all, thanks to Camille Pissarro, he met Paul Gauguin, destined to have an important role in his life. With them, who exhibited in the Café du Tambourin, Bernard formed the group of the "Painters of the Petit-Boulevard", born to distinguish themselves from the group of the "Painters of the Grand-Boulevard" who exhibited in the gallery of Theo Van Gogh, Vincent's brother. But his stay in Cormon's studio lasted only two years: in 1886 Bernard was excluded from the atelier. He then thought of going to Brittany and Normandy, making the journey on foot. A short time later, while Van Gogh left for Arles, Bernard decided to settle in Brittany in the village of Pont-Aven. There he met Paul Gauguin again, and met Émile Schuffenecker, Paul Sérusier, Meijer de Haan, Charles Laval and others, giving life to the so-called Pont-Aven School, whose ideas, in clear detachment from Impressionism, were the basis of Cloisonnism and Synthetism.
