Émile Jourdan

Émile Jourdan (30 July 1860, in Vannes – 29 December 1931, in Quimperlé) was a French painter who became one of the artists who gathered in the village of Pont-Aven in Brittany.

Son of Prosper Jourdan, a ranking customs officer, and his wife Aline Paturel, he enjoyed a happy childhood in Vannes in the south of Brittany.

He also became of friend of the other artists who had gathered there including Émile Bernard, Ernest de Chamaillard, Charles Laval and Henry Moret.

Influenced by Gauguin, he adopted the Synthetist style of painting and became known as le peintre de la lumière, the painter of light.

He became acquainted with Maxime Maufra at the Hôtel de Bretagne in Pont-Aven where he started a romance with Catherine Guyader, a 19-year-old waitress.