Femmes Au Porcs 1889

Emile Bernard rendered this piece, "Femmes Au Porcs," using a mosaic of muted colours to depict women tending to pigs. The composition employs flattened perspectives and bold outlines, a hallmark of Cloisonnism, creating a dreamlike rural tableau. The women, rendered with a sense of monumental simplicity, are framed by the curvilinear forms of the pigs. Bernard uses colour to distinguish planes rather than to mimic reality, disrupting conventional spatial relationships. The texture of the print invites a tactile engagement, enhancing the artwork's material presence. This emphasis on form over naturalistic representation reflects Symbolist ideals. By embracing these formal strategies, Bernard challenges the traditional hierarchies of representation and invites us to reconsider the way images construct meaning. The tension between surface and depth, representation and abstraction, is the most engaging aspect of this composition.