Christmas Night (The Blessing of the Oxen)

Gallery label:
This enigmatic view of a winter night in Brittany is a fascinating blend of the imagery Gauguin found so compelling. The steeple and cottages are based on sites in Pont-Aven, yet the women wear the dark headdresses of Le Pouldu. The oxen derive from Egyptian motifs, while the figures in the Breton nativity shrine were inspired by a Javanese frieze. Gauguin may have begun this canvas during his last Pont-Aven visit in 1894, but it was probably finished in the South Seas, where memories of Brittany still colored his work. [source]