À At the mouth of the river Aven, in southern Brittany, Pont-Aven reveals itself between green hills and reflections of water quivering under the poplars. Windmills, galleries and wooded paths form the backdrop to this city of art, which inspired Gauguin and still cultivates a gentle way of life where nature, creativity and heritage meet along the water.
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The mill path leads down to the river, lined with thick hedges where brambles weave their tendrils among the nettles. Suddenly, the village appears, with its slate roofs. In the early 20th century, Pont-Aven was a small town renowned for its winding river, wooded hills and mills. The famous local saying «Pont-Aven, a renowned town with 14 mills and 15 houses » alluded to the fourteen watermills that were once active.
The Aven river, mirror of time
The Aven runs between the granite boulders like a shred of green silk, fraying and whispering, sometimes stopping where the whole sky is reflected. You can dream and imagine washerwomen, kneeling, beating their washing, in the midst of nature. Or hear the sound of hooves on cobblestones, the cries of children at play and the barking of a dog. In the narrow lanes, one once encountered peasants carrying their fodder, and occasionally a wandering artist looking for the right angle for his canvas. The houses, with their blue shutters and wooden balconies that bend under the geraniums, are stacked close together.
I cross the old bridge; in a meadow a few motionless cows seem to be ruminating on eternity. The river languishes, taking on the air of a gentle sea, lined with painted hulls resting in the light, moorings groaning like cello strings. Water is no longer the expected resource of mills: it breathes and reflects the soft grey sky, criss-crossed by flashes of slate and whiteness. The path opens up and the harbour emerges like a confidence.
From the painters' inn to the house of books
In the heart of the village, the pension Gloanec founded in 1860, welcomed visitors with a gentle rigour: modest rooms, simple but hearty meals. It belonged to ordinary people: Marie-Jeanne Gloanec, nicknamed «la mère Gloanec», and her husband. It was the hostel for artists from the Pont-Aven School, such as Paul Gauguin, Paul Sérusier, Emile Bernard and many others. Meals were simple: thick soup, galettes and local cider. The painters settled into upstairs bedrooms, setting up their easels by the windows overlooking the river. They discussed light, colour and shape, but knew the weight of the soup bowls. Today, the original building houses a bookshop with exhibitions and literary events. Faithful to its artistic history, it offers a space where people can meet and reflect on art and literature.
A port in the city
The smell of kelp fills the air. The harbour is revealed as you turn off the quay Théodore Botrel ; It beats to the rhythm of the tides, gorged with salt and wind. The masts claw at the sky, a forest of wood and ropes reaching for the clouds. Each boat, its keel resting in the mud or rocked by the waves, seems ready to set sail again for the open sea, as if the Atlantic were only waiting for a sign.
Pont-Aven has been a river port since the Middle Ages. Ships used to call here to unload salt and wine, and then to transport grain, granite and timber all along the Atlantic seaboard... Today, the port has changed its rhythm. It is the starting point for walks and boat trips aboard the « stars Aven Belon »or the electric boat« La Bell'Aven ".
Drift into a painting
The air lashes, powerful, laden with kelp and seaweed. The seagulls roll their high-pitched cries in the wind and the beating of their wings seems to beckon us out to sea, as if the world were expanding to infinity. An electric boat, the Bell'Aven, silent and odourless, takes us on a guided tour of the river Aven as far as the beach at Port Manec'h. The boat moves along silently, and the landscape looks like a painting. The silence of the engine makes everything more vivid: the lapping of the waves, the high-pitched cry of a seagull, the blue flash of a kingfisher splitting the air. The Bell'Aven glides like a brush across the canvas. The trees on the shore unfurl their foliage in dark masses. Gauguin could have painted them in arabesques, surrounded by black. The rocks emerge in blocks - pinkish granite, pearl grey, bluish black - it's as if we're looking at the audacity of Emile Bernard, who made shadows sing. The landscape looks like something out of a painting: a ruined mill, its stones stained ochre, seems to be waiting for Gauguin's brush. Further on, a field slopes down to the riverbank, its greens a reminder of the simple joys of rural life. Nabis.
The boat moved on and the painters fell silent, benevolent ghosts sitting on the deck of the Bell'Aven. Gauguin, with his dark beard, stared at the water and squinted his eyes, ready to trace invisible contours. Beside him, Sérusier makes a quick note of each reflection that becomes pure colour. Emile Bernard, ironically, looked at the granite blocks, sacred stones arranged like biblical figures. As the boat moved on, the painters fell silent. Perhaps they were thinking that this discreet electric boat was giving them what they were looking for: a moving perspective, a painting done before their eyes, without them having to lift a brush.
And the Bell'Aven becomes a floating studio, a boat of dreams where water, trees and light reinvent painting.
Walks
- Water mills along the river
The numerous granite chaotic formations in the Aven riverbed have encouraged the construction of dams and mills in and around the town. - A walk under the tall beech trees in Le Bois d'Amour
Along the banks of the Aven river, this is an important place in the history of painting: under the dictation of Paul Gauguin, it was the shadows of the Bois d'Amour that inspired the painter Paul Sérusier to paint his legendary picture «Le Talisman», manifesto of the Nabi movement and prelude to abstract art. - Walk on the Aven The 1 hour 40 minute journey starts at the end of the Quai Théodore Botrel in Pont-Aven, and takes you all the way to the beach at Port-Manec'h.
29930 Pont-Aven
www.labellaven.fr
07 65 70 48 42
Tour: 1 h 40, € 24
Pont-Aven Museum
Over 200 works to immerse you in the aesthetics of the famous «Pont-Aven School». Works by Paul Gauguin, Émile Bernard, Paul Sérusier, and other’Pont-Aven School. Digital tools accompany visitors throughout their visit, with multimedia terminals. The permanent collection comprises 4,500 works. It traces the artistic life of Pont-Aven from the 1860s and the establishment of the first colony of American artists, right up to the Breton painters of the mid-20th century. This second generation of painters, more penniless than the «Americans ", an informal group of painters from the United States, often gives preference to the establishments of’Angélique Marie Satre, the famous «Belle Angèle» whose portrait by Gauguin is now on display at the Musée d'Orsay, or of Marie-Jeanne Gloannec at the Pension Gloanec.
The next exhibition « Jean Painlevé, his feet in the water »opens on 7 February 2026.
The chapel of Trémalo
Probably the most famous of the Breton chapels, the Trémalo chapel is a private chapel located on the heights overlooking Pont-Aven. It is located on the path leading up from the village to the manor house of Plessis-Nizon (the owner's residence), on the one hand, and to the hamlet of Trémalo, on the other. It is reached via a long avenue of oak and chestnut trees, known here as the Bois d'amour.
This chapel remains one of the emblems of the Pont-Aven School and the Nabis: during his stay in Brittany, the painter Paul Gauguin twice depicted the Christ on the Cross exhibited in the chapel. His «Yellow Christ» (now in the’Albright-Knox Art Gallery from Buffalo in the United States) and his «Self-Portrait with the Yellow Christ» (Musée d'Orsay in Paris) are still considered to be veritable manifestos of the movement. Nabis and Synthetics.
Open daily to visitors from 10am to 5pm from October to June and from 10am to 6pm from July to September.
The Pont-Aven cakes
Pont-Aven is also the birthplace of another masterpiece: the little butter cake, a local speciality. This delicious Breton sweet has become emblematic of Brittany! It also gave its name to the eponymous film made in 1975 with the actor Jean-Pierre Marielle.
Christmas magic: from the beginning of December to the beginning of January, light shows in the streets of Pont-Aven: the emblematic light trail designed by the lighting artist, Jean-Pol Gloaguen.
Practical information
Pont-Aven Tourist Information Office
Le Pavillon - 2 Rue Louis Lomenech - 29 930 Pont-Aven
+33 (0)2 98 06 87 90
Text and Photos : Michèle Lasseur not mentioned
