Axel Törneman

"A whole world opens up for one when one begins to understand colour," wrote Axel Törneman in Brittany in 1905. The artist had settled there the year before to be alone but soon found company among other artist bohemians such as Ivar Arosenius. In Brittany, Törneman created the work "Breton" in two versions, of which the painting currently at auction was executed first. In the works, Törneman selected models from the region dressed in Breton folk costumes, including an old woman with an eye ailment and a hunchbacked man. He describes the individuals in detail in a letter to his parents:

"This is a woman in circumstances. A strong peasant's cow-like face. She now has 9 children, of which 6 are boys, but she and her husband are to work, as he puts it, until she has 9 sons, for then he will receive a pension from the state sufficient to live and rest on. This is a hunchbacked man, but when he poses for me, he puffs out his chest and stomach and turns so much in profile that I cannot see the hump. I have no heart to paint it so that he sees it. His face is very interesting. No. 1 is an old woman in a white shawl and white cap. She stands somewhat bent so you cannot see much of her face. No. 2 behind her is the richest girl here. She lives at home in filth and misery, has a violet shawl richly embroidered which she flaunts like a peacock. No. III is a girl with light hair and a black dress who has been a maid in Paris and considers herself cleverer than the others. No. IV is the washerwoman's illegitimate daughter. To the one who stands with her back to me, I first had a vagrant who, however, every day he received his modelling money, got drunk, came back and caused a ruckus, whereupon he was dismissed, and I have to look for another."