Rating and value of works, drawings, paintings by Emile Bernard

If you own a work by or based on the artist Emile Bernard and would like to know its value, our state-approved experts and auctioneers will be happy to advise you. Our specialists will carry out a free appraisal of your work, and provide you with a precise estimate of its value on the current market. Then, if you wish to sell your work of art, we will guide you towards the best possible means of obtaining the best possible price.

Artist's rating and value

Émile Bernard is an important artist of Symbolism, with a considerable pictorial output. The market value of Émile Bernard's works on the art market is therefore extremely high, particularly for his Symbolist works. The prices his works fetch on the auction market range from €10 to €2,705,600. A work signed by him can fetch millions of euros at auction, as demonstrated by his painting Bretonnerie, which fetched over €2 million in 2022.

Order of value from the most basic to the most prestigious

Artist's style and technique

Influenced by Synthétisme and Cloisonnisme, Émile Bernard presented works that bore similarities to stained-glass art and Japanese prints. He mainly produced watercolors on paper, but also experimented with different drawing techniques, from ink to charcoal and wash.

Émile Bernard and Paul Gauguin are the two leading figures of Synthétisme. This movement is characterized by the extreme symbolization of forms, a break with illusionism, no depth, no space, no color modulation. Pure colors are laid flat on the canvas, and the palette is dominated by green. Shapes are determined by black, while compositions are relatively uncluttered, getting rid of details.

The life of Émile Bernard

Émile Bernard (1868-1941) studied at the École des Arts Décoratifs before joining Fernand Cormon's studio at the age of sixteen, where he became friends with Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Louis Anquetin. However, he was expelled from the studio two years later for his lack of discipline. He then set off on foot to Normandy and Brittany, stopping off at Pont-Aven where he met Paul Gauguin. Shortly afterwards, he met Vincent Van Gogh, marking the start of his Pointillist period.

After his pointillist period, Émile Bernard turned to "cloisonnisme". This technique, developed by himself and Louis Anquetin, is characterized by broad flat tints of color separated by black outlines, reminiscent of cloisonné enamels. This approach influenced many artists of the Pont-Aven school, notably Paul Gauguin. 

In 1891, Bernard quarreled with Gauguin, accusing him of taking credit for all the technical inventions associated with the synthesis and symbolism of Pont-Aven. From 1893 onwards, Bernard spent ten years in Egypt, where he devoted himself to Orientalist painting, whose works remain overshadowed today by those of the Symbolist period. Returning to France in 1904, he met Paul Cézanne and made a radical shift towards neo-classical painting, drawing his inspiration from the paintings of old masters such as the Italian Primitives and Venetian Renaissance painters.

Émile Bernard was fascinated by the Middle Ages, so much so that he spent much of his life renovating a medieval manor house in Brittany. This passion for the Middle Ages also influenced his artistic work, a tendency reflected in his use of medieval motifs and techniques. 

Émile Bernard's imprint on his period

Today, Émile Bernard is best known for his Symbolist paintings from the Pont-Aven school. However, time has diligently erased his work as a writer from our memories. While he was much appreciated by the great French writers of the time, such as Guillaume Apollinaire, his pseudonym Jean Dorsal, under which he signed his writings, does not seem to have fleshed out his career. Bernard also tried his hand at sculpture, alongside his friend and rival Paul Gauguin.

His signature 

Although there are variations, here is a first example of its signature:

Appraising your property

If you happen to own a work by or after Émile Bernard, don't hesitate to request a free appraisal by filling in our form on our website. A member of our team of experts and certified auctioneers will contact you promptly with an estimate of the value of your work, and will provide you with all the relevant information. If you're thinking of selling your work, our specialists will also be on hand to offer you alternatives for selling it at the best possible price, taking into account market trends and specificities.