From 29 February to 26 April 2024, Ordovas presents Gauguin and the Contemporary Landscape, an exhibition of five paintings exploring the enduring influence and appeal of nature on artists working over a century apart. At the centre of the exhibition is a rural scene by Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) painted in Brittany in 1890.

It is shown alongside works by two contemporary artists who have also redefined landscape painting: Peter Doig (b. 1959) and Mamma Andersson (b. 1962). These include a monumental and rarely seen cabin painting considered to be one of Doig's finest works of the 1990s which is shown in public for the first time in 25 years, and a large-scale composition painted earlier this year by Andersson.

The exhibition is accompanied by a fully-illustrated catalogue, which includes a specially commissioned poem by Sir Ben Okri, the Booker Prize-winning poet, novelist, and playwright. Le toit bleu or Ferme au Pouldu was painted by Paul Gauguin in 1890 after he had escaped the booming urban culture of Paris to explore relatively remote, seemingly uncivilised areas of Brittany, becoming the most prominent painter of the Pont-Aven school.

It was painted in the village of Le Pouldu, the artist having recently left Pont-Aven in search of even greater solitude as he sought to represent humanity at its simplest. The painting is exceptional in its picturesque portrayal of a country farm and its bold use of colour, depicting a solitary woman at the centre of the composition drawing water from a well. It has previously been shown at major museums including the Tate in 1966 as part of Gauguin and the Pont-Aven Group, as well as Dallas Museum of Art where it was on long-term loan from 1985 to 2000.

 

Photography Stuart Burford, Courtesy Ordovas.