Gauguin had brought his new style from Pont-Aven exemplified in Vision of the Sermon, a powerful work of visual symbolism of which he had already sent a sketch to Van Gogh in September.
As the church is adjacent to rue Émile Bernard, some of Émile Bernard's paintings are showcased there.
Pont-Aven is mainly known because of the group of artists who flocked round Émile Bernard and Paul Gauguin, and who were joined in 1888 by Paul Sérusier.
George Bernard Shaw | Émile Zola | Bernard of Clairvaux | Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein | Bernard Madoff | Bernard-Henri Lévy | Bernard Haitink | Bernard Berenson | Bernard Hopkins | Bernard Cornwell | St. Bernard | Bernard Montgomery | Bernard Herrmann | Bernard | Bernard Malamud | Bernard Baruch | Émile Durkheim | Bernard Kouchner | Bernard Hinault | Bernard Comrie | Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research | Bernard Edwards | Bernard Devauchelle | Bernard Tschumi | Bernard Maybeck | Bernard Lonergan | Jean-Bernard Pommier | Emile Clement | Émile Bernard | Bernard Tapie |
Van Gogh asked Laval, Paul Gauguin and Émile Bernard to send him a portrait, in exchange for one of his own self-portraits.
Vincent van Gogh had suggested a portrait exchange among the small group of artists (also including Émile Bernard) gathered at Pont-Aven in order to create a greater sense of community, a tradition known as Freundschaftsbild. By rendering them all in new artistic styles, the collective announced their abandonment of naturalism and adoption of Symbolism.