Caricature of Paul Gauguin

About the Artwork

Émile Bernard worked closely with Paul Gauguin in the village of Pont-Aven during the late 1880s, adopting a new style that emphasized imagination rather than observed reality. This caricatural portrait dates to their most intense period of collaboration, and shows Gauguin as the leader of a new school of painting, seated regally and holding a walking stick that resembles a scepter.

Inscriptions

upper edge, above image, in pen and brown ink: Caricature de P. Gauguin / in pale brown ink: (Coastal Indian); in pen and brown ink: 1889 / E. Bernard; lower right: E. Bernard 89; verso: long inscription in pen and brown ink

Provenance

1974: (Christie's, London, July 5, 1974, no. 285) 1976: (Sotheby's, London, April 8, 1976, no. 279, sold to Dr. Anton C.R. Dreesmann, Amsterdam) 1976-2002: Dr. Anton C.R. Dreesmann [1923-2000], Amsterdam 2002: (Christie's, London, Dreesmann sale, April 9, 2002, no. 38, sold to William Kelly SImpson, Katonah, NY) 2002-2018: William Kelly Simpson [1928-2017], Katonah, NY, by bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH 2018-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Exhibition history

Paul Gauguin: Paris, 1889. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 4, 2009-January 18, 2010); Van Gogh Museum, 1070 AJ Amsterdam, Netherlands (February 18-June 6, 2010).

Quick Overview

Artist: Émile Bernard (French, 1868–1941)
Date: 1889
Medium: watercolor and black ink on paper
Dimensions: Sheet: 19.9 x 15.5 cm (7 13/16 x 6 1/8 in.)
Type: Drawing
Classification: Drawing
Department: Drawings
Credit line: Bequest of William Kelly Simpson in memory of his wife Marilyn M. Simpson and her grandfather, John D. Rockefeller Jr.
Accession no.: 2018.75

More by Émile Bernard in museum collections

Portrait of Paul Sérusier
Émile Bernard
1893 · Drawing
Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of ArtAT-00011125

Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.