Why this Little-Known Painting is One of the Most Influential of the Last 150 Years

Introducing Paul Sérusier’s radical art technique

The Talisman, also known as Landscape at the Bois d’Amour (1888) by Paul Sérusier. Oil on panel. 27 × 21.5 cm. Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France. Image source Wikimedia Commons

Some artworks achieve their renown not only for what they depict but also for the effect they have on the story of art.

This painting is one such artwork.

Known as The Talisman, it became an icon of Post-Impressionism, a rallying cry for Synthetism and Cloisonnism, and a beacon for the group of young French painters who called themselves Les Nabis (“The Prophets”).

Despite its modest size — just 27 cm tall — the radicalism of its flat colours and near-abstract appearance made it one of the very first paintings of modern art.

So let’s unravel the circumstances of its creation…

A Journey from Paris

The year was 1888. A 24-year-old man left his home city of Paris, aboard a train on the new westbound line that opened in 1862 and which allowed Parisians to escape to the coast during the summer.

His name was Paul Sérusier, a student from Paris’ Académie Julian art school.

He was travelling to the sleepy village of Pont-Aven in Brittany in northwest France, a journey of about 350 miles, to join a thriving artists’…