Paul Sérusier was born in Paris, and he studied at the Julian Academy, an alternative to the elite and conservative School of Fine Arts. During his training, Sérusier visited the artist settlement based in Pont-Aven. While here, he met a group of Symbolists and got attracted to their art. Working closely with his friends, Maurice Denis, Paul Gauguin, Édouard Vuillard, and Pierre Bonnard, he employed flattened forms and bold colors to illustrate his thoughts on the canvas. Sérusier was actually seeking liberation from the recent Impressionist movement and the strictures of classical painting. In the process, he became a pioneer of Post-Impressionism, and later on founded the group called Les Nabis. The group was named after the Hebrew word for "prophet." He strived to synthesize 3 key elements within his works: the sensation of the natural world, its appearance, and the form in which he chose to represent it.
He emphasized the 2D of painting through the use of bright colors and strong lines. As the Nabis’ leader he sought to paint what he saw as well as what he felt. Sérusier brought more evocative and conceptual elements into his painting, more so in his use of non-descriptive color and his dissolution of forms. Thought has been paramount to his work and he placed it above everything else. For instance, if he perceived the sky to be yellow, he did not paint it as blue but as yellow the way he perceived it. Being independent in his thinking made his art to be unique and attractive.
