The fire crackles, the smoke rises, flecks of complementary colors are in motion. In the center of a panoramic view, a fishing boat is stranded at low tide. Some men melt the tar to strengthen the waterproofness of the hull. The cove extends to the entrance of Pont-Aven, where on the left you can see a mill on the river and the village bell tower. The painter, in fact, expands the scene by modifying reality. To develop a flat area of vegetation, the hill becomes an overhanging mass. Maufra thus joins the Pont-Aven school through the extreme simplification of the forms and the use of the dark ring that separates them. But his art is hybrid and original: from Impressionism he retains the touch and interest in reflections on the water.

In 1888 Pont Aven was the scene of important plastic innovations. Radical simplification of forms, use of pure colors arranged on flat surfaces, extraneous to ordinary perception, abandonment of the classical framing and perspective, in a way similar to Japanese prints: all this characterizes the formal revolution that took place later and of which every artist has appropriated himself in his own way. The term "synthesis" defines this new approach which replaces observation with its recreation by the imaginary. This liberation from the academic grasp, this "right to dare anything" advocated by Gauguin, take painting to other territories, to other experiments.