From March 2023 to June 2024, the exhibition Light and Wind in Brittany exhibited 63 works from the Quimper Museum of Fine Arts in five Japanese cities. A real success. “The exhibition was seen by 99,500 visitors,” says Florence Rionnet, deputy director of the museum. “The public was delighted, rejoices Guillaume Ambroise, curator. The reception was excellent, very efficient.
Read also: He restores the luster to the 63 works loaned to Japan
The Japanese fell in love with one work in particular, which was reproduced on a poster.
This is aboutFarewell ! by Alfred Guillou (1844-1926) from Concarneau. A maritime scene, a shipwreck. A father kissing his drowned child. This painting is of a generous format, 1.70 x 2.45 m, the viewer is himself very quickly in the painting. In the water, facing these two unfortunates. With waves that are no longer raging but still bear the scars of a murderous sea.
The horizon line is absent. The hull of a capsized boat, the mast lying diagonally in the direction of the foaming crest of the waves take us as close as possible to this drama of the sea.
In front of this painting, the spectator is also an actor. A survivor. Soaked, whipped by the elements, Witness to this farewell kiss that gives its name to the painting. The painter’s father was a pilot in the port of Concarneau, a sailor and a lifeguard. He encouraged his son, a kid, to embark as a cabin boy. It is also said that these two characters in the painting were people from Concarneau who served as models.
