Gauguin, Paul

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[[Image:Paul Gauguin 111.jpg|thumb|250px|Gauguin self portrait]]
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'''Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin''' (June 7, 1848 – May 9, 1903), also spelled '''Gaugin''', was a leading [[Post-Impressionism|Post-Impressionist]] [[artist]]. Best known as a [[painter]], his bold experimentation with coloring led directly to the [[Synthetism|Synthetist]] style of [[Modern Art]], while his expression of the inherent meaning of the subjects in his paintings paved the way to [[Primitivism]] and the return to the [[pastoral]]. He was also an influential exponent of wood [[engraving]] and [[woodcut]]s as art forms.
  
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[[Image:PaulGauguinblackwhite.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin]]
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Separating from his wife and five children and suffering from bouts of [[depression]], Gauguin became increasingly focused on his art, associating with such Parisian artists as [[Camille Pissarro]] and [[Paul Cézanne]]. The mystic [[symbolism]] and vigor he found in Asian and African art, along with his interest in [[cloisonne]]-enameling, influenced his style. Destitute and seeking recognition, Gauguin left his native [[France]], eventually settling in [[Polynesia]]. Full of quasi-religious symbolism and an exoticized view of the islanders, his intensely colorful paintings today command tens of millions of dollars among art collectors.
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'''Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin''' (June 7, 1848 – May 9, 1903) was a leading [[Post-Impressionism|Post-Impressionist]] [[artist]]. Best known as a [[painter]], his bold experimentation with coloring led directly to the [[Synthetism|Synthetist]] style of [[Modern Art]], while his expression of the inherent meaning of the subjects in his paintings paved the way to [[Primitivism]] and the return to the [[pastoral]]. He was also an influential exponent of wood [[engraving]] and [[woodcut]]s as art forms.
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{{toc}}
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Gauguin was a major influence on a wide variety of younger artists, and his impact has been observed on styles ranging from [[Fauvism]] to [[Expressionism]], [[Cubism]], and the [[Arts and Crafts Movement]].  
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Separating from his wife and five children and suffering from bouts of [[depression]], Gaugin became increasingly focused on his art, associating with such Parisian artists as [[Camille Pissarro]] and [[Paul Cézanne]]. The mystic [[symbolism]] and vigor he found in Asian and African art, along with his interest in [[cloisonne]]-enamelling, influenced his style. Destitute and seeking recognition, Gaugin left his native [[France]], eventually settling in [[Polynesia]]. Full of quasi-religious symbolism and an exoticized view of the islanders, his intensely colorful paintings today command tens of millions of dollars among art collectors.
 
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Gaugin's lush colors, flat two-dimensional forms, and subject matter helped form the basis of Modern Art.
 
  
 
==Life and Work==
 
==Life and Work==
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Paul Gauguin was born in [[Paris]], [[France]] to journalist Clovis Gauguin and Aline Maria Chazal, the half-[[Peruvian]] daughter of a [[socialist]] activist. In 1851, the family left Paris for [[Peru]], motivated by the political climate of the period. Clovis died on the voyage, leaving three-year old Paul, his mother, and his sister to fend for themselves. They lived for four years in [[Lima, Peru]] with Paul's uncle and his family. The imagery of Peru would later influence Gaugin in his art.
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[[Image:PaulGauguinblackwhite.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin]]
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Paul Gauguin was born in [[Paris]], [[France]] to journalist Clovis Gauguin and Aline Maria Chazal, the half-[[Peru|Peruvian]] daughter of a [[socialist]] activist. In 1851, the family left Paris for Peru, motivated by the political climate of the period. Clovis died on the voyage, leaving three-year-old Paul, his mother, and his sister to fend for themselves. They lived for four years in [[Lima, Peru]] with Paul's uncle and his family. The imagery of Peru would later influence Gauguin in his art.
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At the age of seven, Paul and his family returned to France to live to live with his grandfather in [[Orleans]]. He soon learned [[French language|French]] and excelled in his studies. At 17, Gauguin signed on as a pilot's assistant in the [[merchant marine]] to fulfill his required military service. Three years later, he joined the [[navy]] where he stayed for two years. In 1871, Gauguin returned to Paris where he secured a job as a [[stockbroker]]. In 1873, he married a [[Danish]] woman, Mette Sophie Gad. Over the next 10 years, they would have five children.
 
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Gauguin had been interested in art since his childhood. In his free time, he began painting and would also frequent galleries and purchase many of the new art coming out in Paris, including some 17,000 francs on works by [[Eduoard Manet]], [[Claude Monet]], [[Alfred Sisley]], [[Camille Pissarro]], [[Auguste Renoir]], and [[Armand Guillaumin]]. He formed a friendship with Pissarro, who introduced him to various artists through his connections.  
 
  
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In 1874, he saw the first [[Impressionist]] exhibition, which completely entranced him and confirmed his desire to become a painter. As he progressed in his art, Gauguin rented a studio, and showed paintings in [[Impressionist]] exhibitions held in 1881 and 1882. Over two summer vacations, he painted with Pissarro and occasionally with [[Paul Cézanne]].  
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At the age of seven, Paul and his family returned to France to live with his grandfather in [[Orléans]]. He soon learned [[French language|French]] and excelled in his studies. At 17, Gauguin signed on as a pilot's assistant in the [[merchant marine]] to fulfill his required military service. Three years later, he joined the [[navy]] where he stayed for two years. In 1871, Gauguin returned to Paris where he secured a job as a [[stockbroker]]. In 1873, he married a [[Denmark|Danish]] woman, Mette Sophie Gad. Over the next 10 years, they would have five children.
  
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Pissarro took a special interest in Gaugin's attempts at painting, emphasizing that he should "look for the nature that suits your temperament," and in 1876, Gauguin had a landscape in the style of Pissarro accepted at the [[Salon de Paris]]. In the meantime, Pissarro had introduced him to Cézanne, for whose works he conceived a great respect—so much so that the older man began to fear that he would steal his "sensations." All three worked together for some time at [[Pontoise]], the studio-residence of the L'Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’arts de Paris-Cergy, where Pissarro and Gauguin drew pencil sketches of each other.  
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Gauguin had been interested in art since his childhood. In his free time, he began painting and would also frequent galleries and purchase many of the new art coming out in Paris. He formed a friendship with [[Camille Pissarro]], who introduced him to various artists through his connections. As he progressed in his art, Gauguin rented a studio, and showed paintings in [[Impressionist]] exhibitions held in 1881 and 1882. Over two summer vacations, he painted with Pissarro and occasionally with [[Paul Cézanne]].  
  
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[[Image:Where.jpg|thumb|left|350px|''[[Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?]]''<br/>1897, oil on canvas<br/>[[Museum of Fine Arts, Boston|Boston Museum of Fine Arts]], Boston, MA, USA]]
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[[Image:Where.jpg|thumb|left|350px|''[[Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?]]'' (1897, oil on canvas): [[Museum of Fine Arts, Boston|Boston Museum of Fine Arts]]]]
  
 
By 1884, Gauguin had moved with his family to [[Copenhagen]], where he unsuccessfully pursued a business career. Driven to paint full-time, he returned to Paris in 1885, leaving his family in [[Denmark]]. Without adequate subsistence, his wife and their five children returned to her family.
 
By 1884, Gauguin had moved with his family to [[Copenhagen]], where he unsuccessfully pursued a business career. Driven to paint full-time, he returned to Paris in 1885, leaving his family in [[Denmark]]. Without adequate subsistence, his wife and their five children returned to her family.
  
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Gauguin experienced bouts of [[depression (mood)|depression]] and at one time attempted [[suicide]]. Disappointed with [[Impressionism]], he felt that traditional European painting had become too imitative and lacked symbolic depth. By contrast, the art of [[Africa]] and [[Asia]] seemed to him full of mystic symbolism and vigor. There was a vogue in Europe at the time for the art of other cultures, especially that of [[Japan]]. Gauguin was invited to participate in the [[Paul Gauguin's exhibit at Les XX, 1889|1889 exhibition]] organized by [[Les XX]], a group of 20 Belgian [[painter]]s, [[designer]]s, and [[sculptor]]s, formed in 1883 by the [[Brussels]] [[lawyer]], [[publisher]], and entrepreneur [[Octave Maus]].
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Like his friend [[Vincent Van Gogh]], with whom he spent nine weeks painting in [[Arles]], Gauguin experienced bouts of [[depression (mood)|depression]] and at one time attempted [[suicide]]. Disappointed with [[Impressionism]], he felt that traditional European painting had become too imitative and lacked symbolic depth. By contrast, the art of [[Africa]] and [[Asia]] seemed to him full of mystic symbolism and vigor. There was a vogue in Europe at the time for the art of other cultures, especially that of [[Japan]]. Gauguin was invited to participate in the [[Paul Gauguin's exhibit at Les XX, 1889|1889 exhibition]] organized by [[Les XX]].<ref>Les XX was a group of twenty [[Belgium|Belgian]] painters, designers and sculptors, formed in 1883 by the [[Brussels]] lawyer, publisher, and entrepreneur, Octave Maus. For ten years these "vingtistes," as they called themselves, held an annual exhibition of their art; each year twenty international artists were also invited to participate in the exhibition. Artists invited over the years included: Camille Pissarro (1887, 1889, 1891), [[Claude Monet]] (1886, 1889), [[Georges-Pierre Seurat|Georges Seurat]] (1887, 1889, 1891, 1892), Paul Gauguin (1889, 1891), Paul Cézanne (1890), and [[Vincent van Gogh]] (1890, 1891).</ref>.
  
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[[Image:Yellow Christ.jpg|thumb|right|175px|''The Yellow Christ (Le Christ jaune)''<br/>1889, oil on canvas. [[Albright-Knox Art Gallery]], Buffalo, NY, USA]]
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[[Image:Yellow Christ.jpg|thumb|right|175px|''The Yellow Christ (Le Christ jaune)'' (1889, oil on canvas): [[Albright-Knox Art Gallery]], Buffalo, NY]]
  
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Gauguin evolved towards [[Cloisonnism]], a style given its name by the critic [[Édouard Dujardin]] in response to [[Emile Bernard]]'s [[cloisonne]]-enameling technique. Gauguin was very appreciative of Bernard's art and of his daring with the employment of a style which suited Gauguin in his quest to express the essence of the objects in his art. In ''[[:Image:Yellow Christ.jpg|The Yellow Christ]]'' (1889), often cited as a quintessential ''cloisonnist'' work, the image was reduced to areas of large flat areas of nonnaturalistic color separated by heavy black outlines. In such works, Gauguin paid little attention to classical perspective and boldly eliminated subtle gradations of color—thus dispensing with the two most characteristic principles of post-[[Renaissance]] painting. His painting later evolved towards "synthetism," a less naturalistic style, in which neither form nor color predominate but each has an equal role.
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Under the influence of [[folk art]] and [[Ukiyo-e|Japanese prints]], Gauguin evolved towards   [[Cloisonnism]], a style given its name by the critic [[Édouard Dujardin]] in response to [[Emile Bernard]]'s [[cloisonne]]-enameling technique. Gauguin was very appreciative of Bernard's art and of his daring with the employment of a style which suited Gauguin in his quest to express the essence of the objects in his art. In ''[[:Image:Yellow Christ.jpg|The Yellow Christ]]'' (1889), often cited as a quintessential ''cloisonnist'' work, the image was reduced to areas of pure color separated by heavy black outlines. In such works, Gauguin paid little attention to classical perspective and boldly eliminated subtle gradations of color—thus dispensing with the two most characteristic principles of post-[[Renaissance]] painting. His painting later evolved towards "synthetism," in which neither form nor color predominate but each has an equal role.
  
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He found his inspiration in the art of indigenous peoples, in medieval stained glass, and in Japanese prints; he was introduced to Japanese prints by the Dutch artist [[Vincent van Gogh]] when they spent two months together in Arles, in the south of France, in 1888. Gaugin made several attempts to find a tropical paradise where he could "live on fish and fruit" and paint in his increasingly primitive style. including short stays in Martinique and as a worker on the [[Panama Canal]]).
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[[Image:Paul Gauguin - Deux Tahitiennes.jpg|thumb|left|''Two Tahitian Women'']]
  
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In 1891, frustrated by lack of recognition at home and financially destitute, Gauguin sailed to the tropics to escape European civilization and "everything that is artificial and conventional." Living in Mataiea Village in [[Tahiti]], he painted "''Fatata te Miti''" ("By the Sea"), "''La Orana Maria''" (Ave Maria), and other depictions of Tahitian life. He moved to [[Punaauia]] in 1897, where he created the masterpiece painting "''Where Do We Come From''", and then lived the rest of his life in the [[Marquesas]] Islands, returning to France only once.
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Gauguin made several attempts to find a tropical paradise where he could "live on fish and fruit" and paint in his increasingly primitive style. Including short stays in [[Martinique]] and as a worker on the [[Panama Canal]]. In 1891, frustrated by lack of recognition at home and financially destitute, Gauguin sailed to the tropics to escape European civilization and "everything that is artificial and conventional." Living in Mataiea Village in [[Tahiti]], he painted "''Fatata te Miti''" ("By the Sea"), "''La Orana Maria''" (Ave Maria), and other depictions of Tahitian life. He moved to [[Punaauia]] in 1897, where he created the masterpiece painting "''Where Do We Come From''," and then lived the rest of his life in the [[Marquesas]] Islands, returning to France only once.
  
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Except for one visit to France from 1893 to 1895, he remained in the Tropics for the rest of his life, first in Tahiti and later in the Marquesas Islands. The essential characteristics of his style changed little in the South Seas; he retained the qualities of expressive color, denial of perspective, and thick, flat forms. Under the influence of the tropical setting and Polynesian culture, however, Gaugin’s paintings became more powerful, while the subject matter became more distinctive, the scale larger, and the compositions more simplified. His subjects ranged from scenes of ordinary life, such as ''Tahitian Women'', or ''On the Beach'', to brooding scenes of superstitious dread, such as ''Spirit of the Deadwatching''. His masterpiece was the monumental allegory ''Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?'', which he painted shortly before his failed suicide attempt.  
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His works of that period are full of quasi-religious symbolism and an exoticized view of the inhabitants of Polynesia, where he clashed often with the colonial authorities and the [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic Church]]. During this period, he also wrote the book ''Avant et Après'' ("Before and After"), a fragmented collection of observations about life in [[Polynesia]], memories from his life, and comments on literature and paintings. In 1903, charged with [[defamation|libel]] against the governor, he was sentenced to three months in prison and fined. At the time, he was being supported by an art dealer.
  
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His works of that period are full of quasi-religious symbolism and an exoticized view of the inhabitants of Polynesia, where he clashed often with the colonial authorities and the Catholic Church. During this period, he also wrote the book ''Avant et Après'' ("Before and After"), a fragmented collection of observations about life in Polynesia, memories from his life, and comments on literature and paintings. In 1903, due to a problem with the church and the government, he was sentenced to three months in prison for slander and fined. At the time, he was being supported by a modest stipend from a Parisian art dealer, which sustained him until his death.  
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In 1903 at age 54, Gauugin died of [[syphilis]] before he could start the prison sentence. His body had been weakened by [[alcoholism]] and a dissipated life style. He is buried in [[Calvary Cemetery, Atuona|Calvary Cemetery]] (Cimetière Calvaire), [[Atuona]], [[Hiva Oa|Hiva ‘Oa]], [[Marquesas Islands]], [[French Polynesia]].
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His body had been weakened by [[alcoholism]] and a dissipated life style, Gaugin died from [[syphilis]] on May 9, 1903, before he could start the prison sentence at Atuana in Marquesas.
 
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He is buried in [[Calvary Cemetery, Atuona|Calvary Cemetery]] (Cimetière Calvaire), [[Atuona]], [[Hiva Oa|Hiva ‘Oa]], [[Marquesas Islands]], [[French Polynesia]].
 
  
 
== Quotations ==
 
== Quotations ==
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=== Quotations by Gauguin ===
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[[Image:Paul Gauguin 125.jpg|thumb|Self-portrait]]
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*I have tried to make everything breathe in this painting: belief, passive suffering, religious and primitive style, and the great nature with its scream.
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*In order to do something new we must go back to the source, to humanity in its infancy.
  
 
*How do you see this tree? Is it really green? Use green, then, the most beautiful green on your palette. And that shadow, rather blue? Don't be afraid to paint it as blue as possible.
 
*How do you see this tree? Is it really green? Use green, then, the most beautiful green on your palette. And that shadow, rather blue? Don't be afraid to paint it as blue as possible.
  
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*To me, barbarism is a rejuvenation.
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*To me, [[barbarian|barbarism]] is a rejuvenation.
  
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*Life being what it is, one dreams of revenge.
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*I have tried to make everything breathe in this painting: belief, passive suffering, religious and primitive style, and the great nature with its scream.
  
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===Quotations about Gauguin===
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*Art is either plagiarism or revolution.
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*He put so much mystery in so much brightness. (Mallarme)
 
  
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*Gauguin's paintings always seemed to me cruel, metallic, and lacking in general emotion. He is always absent from his own work. Everything is there except the painter himself. (Vlaminck)
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*I shut my eyes in order to see.
  
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*Portentous allegories about the destiny of mankind. (John Russell)
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*Life being what it is, one dreams of revenge.
  
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*The popular fancy that Gauguin 'discovered himself' as a painter in Tahiti is quite wrong. All the components of his work—the flat patterns of color, the wreathing outlines, the desire to make symbolic statements about fate and emotion, the interest in 'primitive' art, and the thought that color could function as a language—were assembled in France before 1891. (Robert Hughes)
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*How long have I been here? Hence, foreward, for I shall not know. For I have been traveling for too long. My bones too weary to remember my age. Hence, how long have I been here? Thou shalt never know.
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[[Image:ta_matete.jpg|thumb|right|175px|''We Shall Not Go to the Market Today (Ta Matete)''<br/>1892, oil on canvas]]
 
  
 
==Legacy==
 
==Legacy==
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Gaugin’s bold experiments in coloring led directly to the twentieth-century Fauvist style in modern art. His strong modeling influenced the Norwegian artist ''Edvard Munch'' and the later Expressionist school.
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The vogue for Gauguin's work started soon after his death. Many of his later paintings were acquired by the Russian collector Sergei Shchukin. A substantial part of his collection is displayed in the [[Pushkin Museum]] and the [[Hermitage Museum|Hermitage]]. Gauguin's paintings are rarely offered for sale; their price may be as high as $39.2 million.  
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Gauguin influenced many other painters, but one especially notable connection is his imparting to [[Arthur Frank Mathews]] the use of an intense color palette. Mathews, who Gauguin in the late 1890s while both were at the [[Academie Julian]], took this influence in his founding of the California [[Arts and Crafts]] (or California Decorative) movement.
 
  
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The vogue for Gauguin's work started soon after his death. Many of his later paintings were acquired by the Russian collector Sergei Shchukin. A substantial part of his collection is displayed in the [[Pushkin Museum]] and the [[Hermitage Museum|Hermitage]]. Gauguin paintings are rarely offered for sale; their price may be as high as $39.2 million.  
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Gauguin had an impact on many other painters, his contemporaries [[Paul Cezanne|Cézanne]] and [[Vincent van Gogh|van Gogh]] among them. Several younger artists of the [[Nabis group]] were inspired by Gauguin's ideas. The [[Fauvism|Fauvists]] were also strongly influenced by him, [[Henri Matisse]] in particular. His artistic experiments influenced many developments in early twentieth century painting. Edvard Munch's use of line has been traced to Gauguin's style. [[Expressionism|Expressionist]]s such as [[Ernst Ludwig Kirchner]] were also influenced by him, as was the young [[Pablo Picasso]]. Another notable connection is his imparting to [[Arthur Frank Mathews]] the use of an intense color palette. Mathews, who Gauguin in the late 1890s while both were at the [[Academie Julian]], took this influence in his founding of the California [[Arts and Crafts]] (or California Decorative) movement.
  
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The Japanese-styled Gauguin Museum, opposite the Botanical Gardens of Papeari in Papeari, Tahiti, contains exhibits, documents, photographs, reproductions, and original sketches and block prints of and by Gauguin. In 2003, the [[Paul Gauguin Cultural Center]] opened in [[Atuona]] in the [[Marquesas Islands]].
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The Japanese-styled Gauguin Museum, opposite the Botanical Gardens of Papeari in Papeari, [[Tahiti]], contains exhibits, documents, photographs, reproductions, and original sketches and block prints of and by Gauguin. In 2003, the [[Paul Gauguin Cultural Center]] opened in [[Atuona]] in the [[Marquesas Islands]].
  
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Paul Gauguin's life inspired [[Somerset Maugham]] to write ''[[The Moon and Sixpence]]''.
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Gauguin's life inspired [[Somerset Maugham]] to write ''[[The Moon and Sixpence]]''.
  
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==References==
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==Gallery==
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*Barskaya, Anna. ''Paul Gaugin'', Grange Books, 2005. ISBN 978-1840135657
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<gallery>
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*Dorra, Henri. ''The Symbolism of Paul Gaugin: Erotica, Exotica, and the Great Dilemmas of Humanity'', University of California Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0520241305
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Image:Paul Gauguin 097.jpg|''Portrait of Madame Gauguin,'' c. (1880-1881)
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*Flux, Paul. ''Paul Gaugin'', Heinemann Library, 2002. ISBN 978-0431092164
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Image:Paul Gauguin 060.jpg|''Garden in Vaugirard, or the Painter's Family in the Garden in Rue Carcel,'' (1881)
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*Gaugin, Paul. ''Gauguin Tahiti'', MFA Publications, 2004. ISBN 978-0878466665
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Image:Gauguin Stillleben mit Fruchtschale und Zitronen.jpg|''Still-Life with Fruit and Lemons,'' c. (1880's)
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Image:Gauguin.swineherd.750pix.jpg|''The Swineherd, Brittany,'' (1888)
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Image:Paul Gauguin 085.jpg|''Les Alyscamps,'' (1888)
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Image:Paul Gauguin 137.jpg|''Vision after the lecture (Jacobs fight with the angel),'' (1888)
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Image:GauguinNightCafeAtArles.JPG|''Night Café at Arles, (Mme Ginoux),'' (1888)
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Image:Paul Gauguin 121.jpg|''Still-Life with Japanese Woodcut,'' (1889)
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Image:Paul Gauguin 056.jpg|Tahitian Women on the Beach,'' (1891''
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Image:Paul Gauguin 040.jpg|''Woman with a Flower,'' (1891)
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Image:Paul Gauguin 031.jpg|''The Moon and the Earth (Hina tefatou),'' (1893)
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Image:Paul Gauguin 004.jpg|''Annah, the Javanerin,'' (1893)
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Image:Paul Gauguin 039.jpg|''Watermill in Pont-Aven,'' (1894)
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Image:Paul Gauguin 044.jpg|''The Midday Nap,'' (1894)
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Image:Paul Gauguin 090.jpg|''Maternity,'' (1899)
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Image:Paul Gauguin - Deux Tahitiennes.jpg|''Two Tahitian Women,'' (1899), oil on canvas,  
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[[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]
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Image:Paul Gauguin 023.jpg|''Cruel Tales (Exotic Saying),'' (1902)
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Image:Paul Gauguin 038.jpg|''The Zauberer of Hiva OAU,'' (1902)
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Image:Paul Gauguin 106.jpg|''Riders on the Beach,'' (1902)
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Image:Paul Gauguin 079.jpg|''Landscape on La Dominique (Hiva OAU),'' (1903)
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</gallery>
  
 
==Notes==
 
==Notes==
 
<div class="references-small"><references/></div>
 
<div class="references-small"><references/></div>
 +
 +
==References==
 +
*Barskaya, Anna. 2005. ''Paul Gauguin''. Grange Books. ISBN 9781840135657
 +
*Dorra, Henri. 2007. ''The Symbolism of Paul Gauguin: Erotica, Exotica, and the Great Dilemmas of Humanity''. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520241305
 +
*Flux, Paul. 2002. ''Paul Gauguin''. Heinemann Library. ISBN 9780431092164
 +
*Gauguin, Paul, Claire Freches-Thory (Author), and George Shackelford (Contributor). 2004. ''Gauguin Tahiti''. MFA Publications. ISBN 9780878466665
  
 
== External links ==
 
== External links ==
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*[http://www.sacred-texts.com/pac/noa/index.htm Noa Noa, by Paul Gauguin at sacred-texts.com]
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All links retrieved November 21, 2022.
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* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=3125 Paul Gauguin's grave site]
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* [http://www.sacred-texts.com/pac/noa/index.htm Noa Noa by Paul Gauguin].  
 +
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=3125 Paul Gauguin's Grave Site].
  
  

Latest revision as of 17:04, 21 November 2022

Gauguin self portrait

Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (June 7, 1848 – May 9, 1903), also spelled Gaugin, was a leading Post-Impressionist artist. Best known as a painter, his bold experimentation with coloring led directly to the Synthetist style of Modern Art, while his expression of the inherent meaning of the subjects in his paintings paved the way to Primitivism and the return to the pastoral. He was also an influential exponent of wood engraving and woodcuts as art forms.

Separating from his wife and five children and suffering from bouts of depression, Gauguin became increasingly focused on his art, associating with such Parisian artists as Camille Pissarro and Paul Cézanne. The mystic symbolism and vigor he found in Asian and African art, along with his interest in cloisonne-enameling, influenced his style. Destitute and seeking recognition, Gauguin left his native France, eventually settling in Polynesia. Full of quasi-religious symbolism and an exoticized view of the islanders, his intensely colorful paintings today command tens of millions of dollars among art collectors.

Gauguin was a major influence on a wide variety of younger artists, and his impact has been observed on styles ranging from Fauvism to Expressionism, Cubism, and the Arts and Crafts Movement.

Life and Work

Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin

Paul Gauguin was born in Paris, France to journalist Clovis Gauguin and Aline Maria Chazal, the half-Peruvian daughter of a socialist activist. In 1851, the family left Paris for Peru, motivated by the political climate of the period. Clovis died on the voyage, leaving three-year-old Paul, his mother, and his sister to fend for themselves. They lived for four years in Lima, Peru with Paul's uncle and his family. The imagery of Peru would later influence Gauguin in his art.

At the age of seven, Paul and his family returned to France to live with his grandfather in Orléans. He soon learned French and excelled in his studies. At 17, Gauguin signed on as a pilot's assistant in the merchant marine to fulfill his required military service. Three years later, he joined the navy where he stayed for two years. In 1871, Gauguin returned to Paris where he secured a job as a stockbroker. In 1873, he married a Danish woman, Mette Sophie Gad. Over the next 10 years, they would have five children.

Gauguin had been interested in art since his childhood. In his free time, he began painting and would also frequent galleries and purchase many of the new art coming out in Paris. He formed a friendship with Camille Pissarro, who introduced him to various artists through his connections. As he progressed in his art, Gauguin rented a studio, and showed paintings in Impressionist exhibitions held in 1881 and 1882. Over two summer vacations, he painted with Pissarro and occasionally with Paul Cézanne.

Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? (1897, oil on canvas): Boston Museum of Fine Arts

By 1884, Gauguin had moved with his family to Copenhagen, where he unsuccessfully pursued a business career. Driven to paint full-time, he returned to Paris in 1885, leaving his family in Denmark. Without adequate subsistence, his wife and their five children returned to her family.

Like his friend Vincent Van Gogh, with whom he spent nine weeks painting in Arles, Gauguin experienced bouts of depression and at one time attempted suicide. Disappointed with Impressionism, he felt that traditional European painting had become too imitative and lacked symbolic depth. By contrast, the art of Africa and Asia seemed to him full of mystic symbolism and vigor. There was a vogue in Europe at the time for the art of other cultures, especially that of Japan. Gauguin was invited to participate in the 1889 exhibition organized by Les XX.[1].

The Yellow Christ (Le Christ jaune) (1889, oil on canvas): Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY

Under the influence of folk art and Japanese prints, Gauguin evolved towards Cloisonnism, a style given its name by the critic Édouard Dujardin in response to Emile Bernard's cloisonne-enameling technique. Gauguin was very appreciative of Bernard's art and of his daring with the employment of a style which suited Gauguin in his quest to express the essence of the objects in his art. In The Yellow Christ (1889), often cited as a quintessential cloisonnist work, the image was reduced to areas of pure color separated by heavy black outlines. In such works, Gauguin paid little attention to classical perspective and boldly eliminated subtle gradations of color—thus dispensing with the two most characteristic principles of post-Renaissance painting. His painting later evolved towards "synthetism," in which neither form nor color predominate but each has an equal role.

Two Tahitian Women

Gauguin made several attempts to find a tropical paradise where he could "live on fish and fruit" and paint in his increasingly primitive style. Including short stays in Martinique and as a worker on the Panama Canal. In 1891, frustrated by lack of recognition at home and financially destitute, Gauguin sailed to the tropics to escape European civilization and "everything that is artificial and conventional." Living in Mataiea Village in Tahiti, he painted "Fatata te Miti" ("By the Sea"), "La Orana Maria" (Ave Maria), and other depictions of Tahitian life. He moved to Punaauia in 1897, where he created the masterpiece painting "Where Do We Come From," and then lived the rest of his life in the Marquesas Islands, returning to France only once.

His works of that period are full of quasi-religious symbolism and an exoticized view of the inhabitants of Polynesia, where he clashed often with the colonial authorities and the Catholic Church. During this period, he also wrote the book Avant et Après ("Before and After"), a fragmented collection of observations about life in Polynesia, memories from his life, and comments on literature and paintings. In 1903, charged with libel against the governor, he was sentenced to three months in prison and fined. At the time, he was being supported by an art dealer.

In 1903 at age 54, Gauugin died of syphilis before he could start the prison sentence. His body had been weakened by alcoholism and a dissipated life style. He is buried in Calvary Cemetery (Cimetière Calvaire), Atuona, Hiva ‘Oa, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia.

Quotations

Self-portrait
  • In order to do something new we must go back to the source, to humanity in its infancy.
  • How do you see this tree? Is it really green? Use green, then, the most beautiful green on your palette. And that shadow, rather blue? Don't be afraid to paint it as blue as possible.
  • I have tried to make everything breathe in this painting: belief, passive suffering, religious and primitive style, and the great nature with its scream.
  • Art is either plagiarism or revolution.
  • I shut my eyes in order to see.
  • Life being what it is, one dreams of revenge.
  • How long have I been here? Hence, foreward, for I shall not know. For I have been traveling for too long. My bones too weary to remember my age. Hence, how long have I been here? Thou shalt never know.

Legacy

The vogue for Gauguin's work started soon after his death. Many of his later paintings were acquired by the Russian collector Sergei Shchukin. A substantial part of his collection is displayed in the Pushkin Museum and the Hermitage. Gauguin's paintings are rarely offered for sale; their price may be as high as $39.2 million.

Gauguin had an impact on many other painters, his contemporaries Cézanne and van Gogh among them. Several younger artists of the Nabis group were inspired by Gauguin's ideas. The Fauvists were also strongly influenced by him, Henri Matisse in particular. His artistic experiments influenced many developments in early twentieth century painting. Edvard Munch's use of line has been traced to Gauguin's style. Expressionists such as Ernst Ludwig Kirchner were also influenced by him, as was the young Pablo Picasso. Another notable connection is his imparting to Arthur Frank Mathews the use of an intense color palette. Mathews, who Gauguin in the late 1890s while both were at the Academie Julian, took this influence in his founding of the California Arts and Crafts (or California Decorative) movement.

The Japanese-styled Gauguin Museum, opposite the Botanical Gardens of Papeari in Papeari, Tahiti, contains exhibits, documents, photographs, reproductions, and original sketches and block prints of and by Gauguin. In 2003, the Paul Gauguin Cultural Center opened in Atuona in the Marquesas Islands.

Gauguin's life inspired Somerset Maugham to write The Moon and Sixpence.

Gallery

  • Portrait of Madame Gauguin, c. (1880-1881)

  • Garden in Vaugirard, or the Painter's Family in the Garden in Rue Carcel, (1881)

  • Still-Life with Fruit and Lemons, c. (1880's)

  • The Swineherd, Brittany, (1888)

  • Les Alyscamps, (1888)

  • Vision after the lecture (Jacobs fight with the angel), (1888)

  • Night Café at Arles, (Mme Ginoux), (1888)

  • Still-Life with Japanese Woodcut, (1889)

  • Tahitian Women on the Beach, (1891

  • Woman with a Flower, (1891)

  • The Moon and the Earth (Hina tefatou), (1893)

  • Annah, the Javanerin, (1893)

  • Watermill in Pont-Aven, (1894)

  • The Midday Nap, (1894)

  • Maternity, (1899)

  • Two Tahitian Women, (1899), oil on canvas,

  • Cruel Tales (Exotic Saying), (1902)

  • The Zauberer of Hiva OAU, (1902)

  • Riders on the Beach, (1902)

  • Landscape on La Dominique (Hiva OAU), (1903)

Notes

  1. ↑ Les XX was a group of twenty Belgian painters, designers and sculptors, formed in 1883 by the Brussels lawyer, publisher, and entrepreneur, Octave Maus. For ten years these "vingtistes," as they called themselves, held an annual exhibition of their art; each year twenty international artists were also invited to participate in the exhibition. Artists invited over the years included: Camille Pissarro (1887, 1889, 1891), Claude Monet (1886, 1889), Georges Seurat (1887, 1889, 1891, 1892), Paul Gauguin (1889, 1891), Paul Cézanne (1890), and Vincent van Gogh (1890, 1891).

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Barskaya, Anna. 2005. Paul Gauguin. Grange Books. ISBN 9781840135657
  • Dorra, Henri. 2007. The Symbolism of Paul Gauguin: Erotica, Exotica, and the Great Dilemmas of Humanity. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520241305
  • Flux, Paul. 2002. Paul Gauguin. Heinemann Library. ISBN 9780431092164
  • Gauguin, Paul, Claire Freches-Thory (Author), and George Shackelford (Contributor). 2004. Gauguin Tahiti. MFA Publications. ISBN 9780878466665

External links

All links retrieved November 21, 2022.

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