Introducing: Les Nabis

The Nabis were a group of French Post-Impressionist painters formed by Paul Sérusier in 1888. Other members included Edouard Vuillard, Pierre Bonnard, Maurice Denis and Aristide Maillol, several of whom had first met while studying together at the Académie Julian in Paris. Their name derived from the Hebrew word for ‘prophets’, as a nod to their belief in art as a quasi-religious act and a semi-serious desire to forge a ‘mystical’ brotherhood. While at Pont-Aven in Brittany, Sérusier had become inspired by Gauguin’s new style known as Synthetism, which was characterized by the use of large flat areas of color, bounded within thick lines. Denis was the group’s primary theorist and was keen to incorporate wider ideas drawn from Symbolism and Japanese art. The Nabis’s goal was not to represent appearance, but to express emotion through color, with a particular emphasis on pattern and the decorative aspect of painting. They also worked on theatre sets, poster design and book illustration. Beginning in 1892, they held a succession of group shows, but had disbanded by around 1900. Bonnard and Vuillard would go on to work in a style known as ‘Intimist’.