Pont-Aven

Pont-Aven
Commune
Port of Pont-Aven
Coat of arms
Location of Pont-Aven
Pont-Aven Pont-Aven
Coordinates: 47°51′23″N 3°44′45″W
Country	France
Region	Brittany
Department	Finistère
Arrondissement	Quimper
Canton	Moëlan-sur-Mer
Intercommunality	Concarneau Cornouaille Agglomération
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Christian Dautel
Area 1	28.63 km2 (11.05 sq mi)
Population  (2021)	2,813
• Density	98/km2 (250/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC 01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC 02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	29217 /29930
Elevation	0–102 m (0–335 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Pont-Aven (French pronunciation: [pɔ̃tavɛn], Breton: 'River Bridge') is a commune in the Finistère department in the Brittany region in Northwestern France.

Demographics

Inhabitants of Pont-Aven are called Pontavenistes in French. Pont-Aven absorbed the former commune of Nizon in 1954, which had a population of 1,837 at the time.

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1793 677 —     1800 720 0.88% 1806 615 −2.59% 1821 762 1.44% 1831 833 0.89% 1836 824 −0.22% 1841 834 0.24% 1846 939 2.40% 1851 1,030 1.87% 1856 986 −0.87% 1861 1,060 1.46% 1866 1,065 0.09% 1872 1,131 1.01% 1876 1,267 2.88% 1881 1,388 1.84% 1886 1,516 1.78% 1891 1,589 0.95% 1896 1,657 0.84%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1901 1,746 1.05% 1906 1,827 0.91% 1911 1,927 1.07% 1921 1,750 −0.96% 1926 1,792 0.48% 1931 1,678 −1.31% 1936 1,818 1.62% 1946 2,040 1.16% 1954 1,806 −1.51% 1962 3,699 9.38% 1968 3,684 −0.07% 1975 3,530 −0.61% 1982 3,295 −0.98% 1990 3,031 −1.04% 1999 2,960 −0.26% 2009 2,887 −0.25% 2014 2,833 −0.38% 2020 2,831 −0.01%
Source: EHESS and INSEE (1968–2017)

Map

Topographic map

History

Pont-Aven is mentioned among the towns which took part in the Breton anti-tax Rebellion of the Red Bonnets against Louis XIV of France in 1675.

Arts

Watermill in Pont-Aven, by Paul Gauguin, 1894

Pont-Aven is mainly known because of the group of artists who flocked round Émile Bernard and Paul Gauguin, and who were joined in 1888 by Paul Sérusier. They were collectively known as "Pont-Aven School" (French: École de Pont-Aven, Breton: Skol Pont-Aven).

Pont Aven School of Contemporary Art (PASCA) is an international fine arts program located in the historic artists' colony of Pont-Aven (Brittany, France). The student body is made up of third-year university or art college honors students or post-baccalaureate art majors (fourth/fifth-year) seeking further study.

The Musée des Beaux Arts de Pont-Aven houses a historical reconstruction of Pont-Aven at the end of the 19th century as well as a permanent collection dedicated to the Pont-Aven School.

Pont Aven still attracts artists and art lovers with many commercial galleries in addition to the town's public gallery.

Geography

Port of Pont-Aven

The river Aven runs through Pont-Aven. The river has relatively favourable water quality, with pH levels slightly alkaline at about 8.5 and electrical conductivity of 19 micro Siemens per centimetre.

The town is at the interface of the tidal estuary and the freshwater river.

Sights

Before Pont-Aven attracted Gauguin and other artists it was a centre for milling with the river Aven being divided above the town to provide a mill race which powers a series of water mills. Whilst several of these retain their wheels only the last, the Moulin Poulguin, is still capable of operating. The mill is now a restaurant and you can see the machinery inside.

Just outside the town are the beech woods of the Bois d'Amour, a source of inspiration for many artists. The town is close to Domaine de Kerlann Holiday Park on the road to the adjoining commune of Nevez. To the northwest of the town, in the small community of Nizon, the ruins of Château de Rustéphan are to be found. Nizon was more famous than Pont-Aven at the 19th century but the painters made it well known.

Popular culture

The Brittany Ferries flagship is named after the town.

Les Galettes de Pont-Aven is a 1975 drama on the life of a middle-aged aspirant painter who settles in the town.

Pont-Aven is the setting for Death in Brittany (2012), the first book in the series of Commissaire Dupin detective novels by Jean-Luc Bannalec (Jörg Bong).

See also

• Communes of the Finistère department
• Musée des Beaux-Arts de Pont-Aven
• Paroisse de Pont-Aven

External links

• Official website (in French)
• Base Mérimée: Search for heritage in the commune, Ministère français de la Culture. (in French)
• Pont-Aven Art Museum
• Pont-Aven School of Contemporary Art
• Information on L'Aven Project and John Melvin