Ferdinand Loyen du Puigaudeau is a painter with an identity and character all his own. Though his work bears similarities to the Realist, Impressionist, Symbolist, and Romantic movements, he remained outside the mainstream of these styles. In 1886, du Puigaudeau made his first visit to the quiet seaside village of Pont-Aven. There he booked a room at Gloanec’s, a popular hotel for artists on a budget. It so happens that Paul Gauguin was also making his first visit and staying at the same hotel. Du Puigaudeau, along with a small number of aspiring artists were in a wholly unique position of observing and working alongside one of the most important painters of the late nineteenth century. Puigaudeau developed close relationships with Gauguin, Degas, Rysselberghe, Ensor and Bernard. Degas affectionately referred to du Puigaudeau as the Hermit of Kervaudu.

Puigaudeau adopted some of the tenets of the Nabis group, such as a heightened palette, simplified forms and a vigorous brushwork that is reminiscent of pointillism as seen in Tamaris et Champs de Coquelicots. He had a passion for the subtleties of light in any form. His garden views and paintings of his home in Kervaudu are imbued with a warm light and freshness of color. Puigaudeau began these paintings sometime around 1907 when he and his family rented the manor depicted in this particular painting from M. Lebreton de Fontenelle. He would remain there until his death on September 15th, 1930. During this time in Kervaudu he painted sunsets along the sea, beautiful landscapes filled with wild flowers and gardens. On Sundays he would invite artists, intellectuals and leading citizens from the area, "there were meetings of educated people who tried to break the monotony of a small fishing harbor by creating the cultural diversions it did not offer" remembers Mlle du Puigadeau.

Museums
Madrid, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum
Quimper, Musée des Beaux-Arts

Exhibitions
Salon de la Sociéte nationale des Beaux-Arts, 1890-93,
Exposition de la Société des Amis des Arts de Nantes, 1892-1913
Exposition Régionale de Rennes, 1897
Exposition chez Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1898
Exposition Universelle, Paris, 1900
Exposition de la Société des Artistes bretons, 1901-02, 1904-05, 1908-09, 1911-13
Exposition personnelle à la Galerie des Artistes modernes, Paris, 1903
Exposition du Groupe artistique de Saint-Nazaire, 1913, 1920-31
Galerie Dru, Paris, retrospective, 1931