The painter Paul Gauguin arrived in Pont-Aven in search of the "savage spirit", long before his quest for paradise took him to the South Seas.
"I love Brittany," -the artist wrote to a friend in 1888- "There is something wild and primitive about it. When my wooden clogs strike this granite ground, I hear the muffled, dull, powerful tone I seek in my painting."
"Pont-Aven, ville de renom, 14 moulins, 15 maisons"(Pont-Aven, renowned for its 14 mills & 15 houses) That's how this charming little Breton town is described, and although there are more than 15 houses now, you can well believe that this is how it must have seemed to the artist Gauguin when he first visited this "petit trou pas cher" in 1886 ... A "cheap little hole" was exactly what the impoverished artist was looking for! A low budget picturesque place as yet totally unspoiled by tourism ... But already at that time, after a few years, Port-Aven looked too crowded at Gauguin’s eyes and he left, looking for more secluded and wild areas.

We remained a bit disappointed by Port-Aven, overwhelmed by a lot of average art-galleries which prosper on the fame of a past community of artists.
It’s a charming small village, but not the one which impressed us more in Bretagne, so like Gauguin we moved somewhere else.
Nevertheless I took a few pictures during our short stay, as memories…