Page 177 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Brittany

SOUTHERN FINISTÈRE  175

k Rosporden
Road map B3. 10 km (6 miles) north
of Concarneau via the D70. * 6,430.
k Quimper. @ Quimperlé. n 8 Rue
Earnest Prévost; (02) 98 59 27 26.
In the midst of lush country-
side dotted with picturesque
chapels, Rosporden stands on
the edge of a pond formed by
the Aven river. The Église Notre-
Dame, built in the 14th century The quay at Quimperlé, founded in the 11th century
and restored in the 17th, has a
fine belfry. Inside are a notable Syntheticism was created. This began to develop only in the
altarpiece and several style used bold dashes of colour 17th century. Capuchins and
interesting statues. and strong symbolism. Ursulines also settled here, and
The many footpaths here, nobles built fine residences in
and the disused Rosporde n- E Musée de Pont-Aven Rue Dom-Morice and Rue
Scaër railway line allows Place de l’Hôtel-de-Ville. Tel (02) 98 06 Brémond-d’Ars, in the lower
walkers and cyclists to explore. 14 43. Open Feb–Mar & Nov–Dec: town. Other notable buildings
Tue–Sun pm; Apr–Jun & Sep–Oct: are the Hôtel du Cosquer and
Tue–Sun; Jul–Aug: daily. & 8 the houses in Rue Savary.
l Pont-Aven R Chapelle de Trémalo Quimperlé (Kemperle in
Place de l’Hôtel-de-Ville. Tel (02) 98 06 Breton) later expanded beyond
Road map B3. * 3,000. k Quimper. 01 68. Open daily.
@ Quimperlé. n 5 Place Julia; (02) 98 its old boundaries, developing
06 04 70. ( Tue am, by the harbour around the Église Ste-Croix, in
(summer); Place de l’Hôtel-de-Ville z Quimperlé the lower town, and Place
(winter). _ La Fête des Fleurs d’Ajonc St-Michel, in the higher town.
(first weekend in Aug); Pardon de Road map C3. * 11,500. Because of the strongly
Trémalo (last Sun in Jul). @ Quimperlé. n 3 Place Charles de influential presence of the
∑ pontaven.com Gaulle; (02) 98 39 67 28. ( Fri in Place monks and nuns here, the
St-Michel; Sun am, in the covered principal monuments in
Pont-Aven was originally a small market. _ Fest Noz (Aug). Quimperlé are religious. They
fishing harbour set at the end ∑ quimperle-terreoceane.com include the Baroque Chapelle
of a ria (ancient flooded valley) des Ursulines, which holds
and surrounded by mills. Luggers This town, at the confluence of temporary art exhibitions,
trading eastwards towards the Isole and Ellé rivers, was and the Église Notre Dame
Nantes and south wards towards founded by Benedictine monks d’Assomption built in a
Bordeaux gradually transformed in the 11th century, although it Flamboyant Gothic style.
this small town into a busy port.
The 17th- and 18th-century
granite houses and paved The Pont-Aven School
streets that rise in tiers between In 1866, a colony of American painters settled in Pont-Aven.
Rue des Meunières and Place Fascinated by the picturesque character of the surroundings,
Royale date from this prosper- they painted scenes of the daily life that they observed around
ous period in the port’s history. them. Paul Gauguin arrived in Pont-Aven in 1886, and there he
From the 1860s, Pont-Aven met Charles Laval, Émile Bernard, Ferdinand du Puigaudeau
owed its fame to the painters and Paul Sérusier, artists who were later to form part of the Nabis
who settled here. Paul group. Soon after, seeking refuge from the bustle of this coastal
Gauguin’s Christ Jaune town, the group moved to the quieter surroundings of Le Pouldu,
takes as its east of Pont-Aven. Influenced by primitive art, these painters
subject the used colour expressively and evocatively, and imbued
Christ on images with a symbolic meaning.
the Cross that still Their paintings were not intended to
hangs in the Chapelle reflect reality but to embody reality
itself, with line and colour producing
de Trémalo at the top a flat image devoid of shading and
of the town, just on the perspective. Their use of tonal
edge of Bois d’Amour contrasts, their novel approach to
woods. The Musée de composition and their asceticism
Pont-Aven documents were at odds with Impressionism.
the town’s history and
Pont-Aven’s has paint ings by the La Belle Angèle, by Paul Gauguin, a leading
Christ on Pont-Aven School, member of the Pont-Aven School
the Cross where a style called

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