Harbour Scene, Dieppe, c.1885-86 (oil on canvas)

Alternative Title: Dieppe Harbour Gauguin was in Dieppe between July and October 1885. The French port was popular with avant-garde painters, who were drawn to its coastal light and busy working life. Whistler and Degas were also in Dieppe in 1885, as was their friend, the English artist Walter Sickert. In Dieppe, Gauguin painted several works on the spot. Working outdoors was important for the Impressionists, with whom Gauguin exhibited between 1880 and 1886. Their aim was to capture the fleeting effects of light with rapidly executed strokes of bold naturalistic colour. Soon after Dieppe, Gauguin tired of Impressionism. In Brittany and Tahiti he developed a new way of painting, using blocks of colour to convey more symbolic themes.