In times before the railway arrived, Finistère seemed a reasonably exotic end of the world to a Parisian, and even more so to a foreigner. Its rugged cliffs and its coasts battered by gusty west winds were bound to attract artists, nurtured by romantic poets' tormented verses. 

It's not surprising that Cournaille, with its exceptional luminosity, fascinates the painters. Following Paul Gauguin and his friends, whole colonies of artists from all over the world, came here to settle. Not every one of them invented a new style, but many got a second wind out of the amount of subjects to paint: landscapes, traditional costumes and crafts, processions...

From the bay of the Mont Saint Michel to Erquy, the Emerald coast's diversity of landscapes, bathed in changing lights, has known how to catch the painter's attention ever since the XIXth century. When you follow this route today, superposing your view to the ones of mythical artists, you give another dimension to the bare emotion provided by the encounter of exceptional landscapes and monuments. Here comes a bygone world, looming up with incredible force from the depth of a painting, that had one day received a piece of a painter's soul.

The route of painters from Cournaille
The route of Cournaille starts in Quimper, at the Art gallery, where you can particularly admire the paintings of Eugène Boudin and Camille Corot. “Le champs de foire”, painted in the early XIXth by a forerunner, Olivier Perrin, is one of the first paintings presenting Cournaille farmers. 
The following itinerary “Bay of Douarnenez – Cap Sizun” leads you to the discovery of landscapes that have already inspired Auguste Renoir and Louis-Désiré Lucas. In Locronan, the Breton Mathurin Méheut has seized on-the-spot scenes of processions. In the bigouden land, Cottet and Lemordant have been inspired in their works by the coastal landscapes and the excessivness of the elements. On the roundtrip “Bénodet, bay of the forest – Concarneau” you will follow in the footsteps of Paul Signac and of the “groupe de Concarneau” who celebrated the charm of the town's lights. Initially organized to save the remparts of the fortified town, the “fête des filets bleus” (fête of the thin blue shafts) still exists today. 
On the route Pont-Aven – le Pouldu you will enjoy the particular atmosphere of this joyfull region, where Gauguin, Maurice Denis and many others found notably stimulating welcome and surroundings. 
From Camaret to Crozon, it's the beauty of the peninsula, the plowed fields of Camaret and the Crozon countryside covered in mills, that have been immortalized by painters such as Henri Rivière or Charles Cottet. The final spotlight is turned on a route starting from Chateauneuf-du-Faou, out to meet Paul Sérusier and Germain David Nillet.

http://www.bagadoo.tm.fr/fr/culture/routepeintres
http://www.finisteretourisme.com

The route of painters from Haute Bretagne, the eastern part of Brittany
In order to amplify the aesthetic pleasures offered by nature, enlighten it by the incisive view of an artist: become familiar with some of the master pieces that the settings that you are about to discover, have inspired to very great artists. The proper existence of Saint Lunaire and Saint Briac is increased by their presence on the canvas painted by Emile Bernard, Auguste Renoir or Paul Signac. 
The beaches of Dinard and Saint Enogat will forever keep the memory of Picasso, whose painting “baigneuses” is exhibited in the art museum in Rennes. 
In Saint Malo, you'll be able to admire paintings from Paul Signac and Emile Othon Friedz . Among the priviliged themes provided by the city of corsairs figure the port of Saint Servan, the Solidor tower, and very often the beaches, schooners, et fishing scenes.
In Cancale and in the bay of the Mont Saint Michel, its the bisquines, breton fishing boats, the women's tough work and the outlines of the Mont that rythm the artist's brush.
In Rennes, a great number of mural frescos bear a master's signature, such as Jean-Julien Lemordant for the theatre's ceiling.