Gauguin’s continuing movement away from optical, true tones and towards a more Symbolic palette is increasingly evident in the exaggerated colors of his early 1888 Breton works, most notably his painting entitled “Breton Shepherd Boy� (1888). This piece represents an important step in Gauguin’s development, revealing both a more individual use of color as well as a more obvious use of Christian imagery. Here, Gauguin presents a shepherd, not longer a shepherdess, and consequently intensifies the connection of his subject matter to the Christian image of Christ as a shepherd. In this piece, however, it is evident that Gauguin’s evolved colors play a much more significant role in the growing Symbolism of the painting than does this subtle Christian reference. In terms of this color progression, as Le Pinchon states, the work “bursts with color.� (Le Pinchon, 76) Although these bursting, powerful colors still reflect a natural palette, they are greatly exaggerated, marking a more dramatic departure from nature than seen in earlier works. More specifically, the landscape of the painting is composed almost completely of bright greens and bold reds and oranges. This predominant use of complementary colors gives the piece an overall eerie and harsh quality. These jarring colors lend a sense of suggestion and evocation to the painting. The unsettled palette can be seen as reflecting the uncertain expression of the shepherd boy. Similarly, these evocative colors could express the emotion of the woman collecting firewood in the foreground. Le Pinchon, in his analysis of the painting, makes the point that the painting clearly holds symbolic meaning, saying that the woman’s position “symbolizes the very wellspring of Gauguin’s inspiration: the return to nature.� (Le Pinchon, 76) While it is true that elements of the painting do hold symbolic value, Le Pinchon fails to connect this shift towards Symbolism with the “bursting� and exaggerated colors he mentions. This is an important distinction to make because it is through Gauguin’s manipulation of color that he begins to interpret the world in a new way, seeing not only what is “real� and tangible, but also what is intangible – the subconscious of his subject and of himself.
Gauguin’s colors continue to evolve in subsequent 1888 works, specifically “Round Dance of Breton Girls� (1888), maintaining the progress seen in “Breton Shepherd Boy� and moving closer to the Symbolism he was seeking, but, as Silverman calls attention to, still searching for “his own idiom.� (Silverman, 97) The bold use of color in “Round Dance� is seen in the white headdresses and red flowers as well as in the in the startling yellow ground. Le Pinchon noted the importance of these colors saying that they “have been orchestrated into a rhythm that is a once hieratic, yet youthful and serene.� (Le Pinchon, 80) The “hieratic� elements of the work show the continuing religious progression of Gauguin’s paintings that parallels his developing colors. However, Le Pinchon fails to note that it is not the “hieratic� suggestion in the piece but the “rhythm� and power of its colors that add an element of depth to the painting, enhancing the steadily growing power of suggestion in Gauguin’s work.