A pleasant small town on the River Aven which once prospered as a mill town. An old water mill still sits by the bustling port, but it is Pont-Aven’s artistic connections which fuel its flourishing tourist industry and furnish the streets with dozens of art galleries.

When Paul Gauguin packed in his job as a stockbroker and moved here in 1886, the town was already a popular artists’ community. Though styled the leader of the Pont-Aven School, Gauguin was much influenced by another Pont-Aven artist, Emile Bernard, with whom he abandoned Impressionism for the brilliant colours and powerful forms of Synthetism.

A gentle stroll upstream to the riverside gardens of Bois d’Amour passes several inspirational views; and further uphill, the Breton-style Chapelle de Trémalo contains the 16thC statue on which Gauguin modelled his Yellow Christ.