Les Nabis: Six Facts About the Post-Impressionist Brotherhood That Shaped Abstract Art

The post-Impressionist collective Les Nabis, active from the late 1880s until their final exhibition in 1900, emerged from the progressive Académie Julian in Paris. The group included Paul Sérusier, Félix Vallotton, Ker-Xavier Roussel, Édouard Vuillard, Paul Ranson, Pierre Bonnard, and Maurice Denis. They drew inspiration from Paul Gauguin and Paul Cézanne, adopting flat planes of color and geometric forms. A pivotal moment occurred in 1888 when Sérusier met Gauguin in Pont-Aven, Brittany, and painted The Talisman under his guidance. The Nabis rejected the hierarchy of arts, elevating decorative arts like ceramics, tapestries, and screens. Their name, proposed by Auguste Cazalis, was a secret term for prophet, and they cultivated a cult-like mystique with rituals, costumes, and coded language. Japanese woodblock prints influenced their flat compositions and motifs like women in gardens. Their emphasis on color and line independent of reality, articulated by Denis, prefigured abstract art. The Dreyfus Affair politically split the group, with Bonnard and Vuillard supporting Dreyfus while Denis and Sérusier opposed, leading to their dissolution. A brief reunion in 1908 established the Académie Ranson, which closed in 1955.