"Whoever sees Sein sees his end" ... On this island nicknamed "the island of the dead", a widow and her child meditate with dignity on the grave of their deceased. The young woman looks down, painfully internalizes her drama. Kneeling on the stone, the boy raises his head and looks at us sadly. Their silences oppose the din of the sparkling sea in the background. This dark mourning scene takes place in a wave washed cemetery, with no flowers or colors. Renouf spent the winter among the fishermen of this austere island located in a hostile sea. Yet this poignant scene is fictitious: the painter has chosen this abandoned place as the setting and has placed these figures that become the archetypes of the sailor's widow and orphan.

This painting, presented at the Paris Salon, brought notoriety to its author, who was awarded the second place medal. It was immediately acquired by the museum. From this work the theme of the Breton widow becomes a commonplace. In Sein, widows occupy a special place, have an almost sacred character and do not remarry.

The sea is particularly dangerous in the Raz de Sein and more generally in Brittany. Shipwrecks are common there. Breton piety is characterized by its loyalty to the dead. The widows of the sailors, dressed in black, were often represented daily in prayer at the graves of their men: fathers, husbands, children. Particularity of the Ile de Sein: after the cholera epidemic of 1886, the mourning headdress became that of everyday life.

© Musée des beaux-arts de Quimper.