The Green Christ / The Breton Cavalry

The Green Christ is another example of Gauguin’s use of symbolism in painting.  The Green Christ was painted in 1889 in Pont-Aven about the time The Yellow Christ was painted.  The stone cavalry depicted in the painting was a sculpture that stood outside the village church at Nizon.  The painting reveals a Breton woman at the foot of the stone cavalry.  Behind her the landscape is painted with vivid colors, showing the shoreline and the rising green dunes. 

Gauguin was touching on the idea of transcendence through suffering.  He saw the suffering of the human condition of the Breton people and their simple and rustic faith which offered them a source of divinity.  He realized that this simplicity allowed them to endure desolation and accept their suffering.