Having met Théodore Hersart de La Villemarqué, who had published a collection of popular Breton songs, "Barzaz Breiz", around 1884 he based on one of the songs his "Flight of King Gradlon", depicting the king fleeing on horseback from his city of Ys as it is swallowed by the sea; St. Winwaloe urges him to jettison his only child, Dahut. The art museums in Quimper, Rennes and Nantes hold several sketches for the work. Exhibited at the Salon of 1884, the painting was hailed as a "superb dramatic group, full of life".