Charles Laval (; 17 March 1862 – 27 April 1894) was a French painter associated with the Synthetic movement and

Pont-Aven School Pont-Aven School (; ) encompasses works of art influenced by the Breton town of Pont-Aven and its surroundings. Originally the term applied to works created in the artists' colony at Pont-Aven, which started to emerge in the 1850s and lasted until ...

. Laval was born in Paris, and was a contemporary and friend of

Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramist, and writer, whose work has been primarily associated with the Post-Impressionist and Symbolist movements. He was also an influ ...

and

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artworks ...

. Gauguin created a portrait of him in 1886 looking at one of Gauguin's ceramic sculptures, entitled ''

Still Life with Profile of Laval ''Still Life with Profile of Laval'' is an 1886 oil painting by France, French artist Paul Gauguin, located in the Indianapolis Museum of Art, which is in Indianapolis, Indiana. It depicts Gauguin's friend Charles Laval in profile with an assortm ...

''.

Laval and Gauguin

Paul Gauguin and Laval both came to Pension Gloanec in

Pont-Aven Pont-Aven (; in Breton) is a commune in the Finistère department in the Brittany region in Northwestern France. Demographics Inhabitants of Pont-Aven are called in French. Pont-Aven absorbed the former commune of Nizon in 1954, which had ...

in 1886 and became friends. In search of an exoticism that could provide the key to art, Gauguin and Laval went to Panama in 1887. To gain some subsidies, Laval performs academic portraits (all lost), using his experience received from Leon Bonnat. A series of mishaps caused Laval and Gauguin to leave Central America for the island of

Martinique Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to iguana island in Carib language, Kariʼn ...

. There he made a small series of landscapes speckled with bright colors, that have been erroneously attributed to Gauguin in the past. Laval died of an illness complicated by

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

in 1894 at the age of 32.

Laval and Van Gogh

Laval’s self-portrait came about because of an agreement between

Van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artwork ...

and several of his friends.

asked Laval,

and Émile Bernard to send him a portrait, in exchange for one of his own self-portraits.

was impressed by Laval's contribution. He included a small drawing of the Laval portrait in a letter to Theo, in order to give his brother an idea of the painting. He described Laval's painting as ''powerful, distinguished and precisely one of the paintings that you talk about: that one has in one's possession before others have recognized the talent''.Van Gogh Museum
Retrieved April 6, 2011,

Selected bibliography

* John Rewald, ''Post-Impressionism, from Van Gogh to Gauguin'', Paris, 1961 * Wladyslawa Jaworska, ''Gauguin and the School of Pont-Aven'', Neuchatel, 1971 * Sophie Monneret, ''Impressionism and his era'', vol. 1, Paris, 1978 1, Paris, 1978 * Karen Pope, ''Gauguin and Martinique'', Austin, 1980 * Welsh-Bogomila Ovsharov, ''Vincent van Gogh & the Birth of Cloisonism'', Toronto, 1981 * Victor Merlhes, ''Correspondence of Paul Gauguin 1872-1888'', Paris, 1984 * John Loiza, ''How Gauguin made a wonderful discovery of Martinique, Le Carbet'', 1990 * Émile Bernard, ''Commentaries on Art'', Volume I, Paris, 1994 * Daniel Wildenstein, Sylvie Crussard, ''Catalogue raisonné of the work of Paul Gauguin 1873-1888'', Paris, 2001 (Albi) Femmes au bord de la mer dit La Martinique (1887) - Charles Laval - Musée D'Orsay.jpg, ''Women by the sea'' Laval harvest in brittany.jpg, ''Harvest in Brittany'' Laval, Charles - Going to Market, Brittany - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Going to Market, Brittany'' Laval bretons.jpg, ''Bretons''

References

External links

at the

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) () is a museum in Paris, France, on the Rive Gauche, Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts railway station built from 1898 to 1900. The museum holds mai ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laval, Charles 1862 births 1894 deaths Painters from Paris 19th-century French painters French male painters French Post-impressionist painters Place of death missing Pont-Aven painters 19th-century French male artists