Yellow Christ

A yellow-skinned Christ hangs on the cross in the midst of an autumn Breton landscape, three peasant women in white caps kneeling in prayer at the foot of the simple wooden cross. Gauguin paints in flat zones of bold color bounded by dark outlines, borrowing the look of folk art and stained glass to express simple, rural faith. Now in Buffalo, the Yellow Christ is a landmark of Symbolism - religion rendered not as realistic drama but as flat, decorative, deeply felt design, the suffering of Christ merged with the timeless piety of the Breton countryside.