Émile Bernard (1868-1941) was a French painter known for his involvement in the Cloisonnism movement - a post-Impressionist style defined by flat, bold planes and dark contours - as well as his contributions to Synthetism.
Émile Henri Bernard was born in Lille, France in 1868. As his younger sister was quite sick and required his parent’s full attention, Bernard was raised by his grandmother, who owned a laundry in Lille; she was an early supporter of Bernard’s interest in art. In 1878, Bernard’s family moved to Paris, which allowed him to attend the Collège Sainte-Barbe.
In the early 1880s, Bernard began studying at the École des Arts Décoratifs, experimenting with Impressionism and Pointillism alongside fellow artists Louis Anquetin and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. However, Bernard was soon suspended from the school for being overly expressive in his painting; so, instead, Bernard took to exploring Brittney by foot.