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Paul Gauguin - Post Impressionist Synthetist

Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) was an innovative post impressionistic painter who experimented with bold colors in a mystical style of painting (soon to be called Synthetism). He was greatly influenced by the exotic Polynesian world, where Tahitian themes abound in much of his artwork. Our SegPlayPC collection is overflowing with over 35 of his most recognizable works including several self portraits, "The Yellow Christ", "M. Loulou", "Spirit of the Dead Watching", "Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?", "Nave Nave Moe", "Reverie", "The Moon and the Earth", "Woman with a Fruit", "The White Horse", "Arearea-Joyousness", "Portrait of Jacob Meyer de Haan" and "Tahitian Women (On the Beach)".

Eugène-Henri Paul Gauguin (June 7, 1848 - May 8, 1903) was one of the most important French artists of the Postimpressionist period. His quest to achieve the directness of primitive art caused him to leave his steady, middle-class profession, abandon his family and live among the Polynesian peoples of the South Sea islands. There Gauguin developed a style of painting that would influence the Fauvist and Expressionist art movements of the 20th century.

Gauguin was born in Paris, France. His father was a radical republican journalist, his mother a Peruvian writer. The family was forced into exile by his father’s political activities and they sailed for Peru. But the journey was too hard for Gauguin’s father, who died before reaching their destination. His widow and two small children were left to fend for themselves in Lima, where they remained for four years.

At the age of 17, Gauguin joined the merchant navy and sailed around the world for the six years. After the death of his mother, he settled down in Paris and became a successful stockbroker. He married a Danish lady in 1873 and had five children. But Gauguin’s true calling was to painting. The first Impressionist exhibition was a turning point and he began to paint in his spare time. He even purchased works by several leading Impressionist painters. From now on painting would be the driving force of his life, for better or for worse.

Returning to Spain after a year, Gauguin started painting decorative, rococo frescoes for local churches. He studied with Francisco Bayeu, a local artist, who helped him find work designing patterns in the Royal Tapestry Workshop where he stayed for 17 years, producing over 60 designs.

His friend Camille Pisarro introduced him to the Impressionists. He painted with Pisarro and Cezanne, but it did not take long for Gauguin to take his work in the direction of primitive and Japanese art. But Gauguin was before his time. His style of painting was rejected, marking the beginning of his bitterness and frustration with a world that would not accept his artistic vision.

The stock market crash of 1883 caused Gauguin to lose his income. He travelled around living on next to nothing, and the family moved temporarily to Copenhagen around 1884. Unsuccessful in Denmark, he moved back to Paris barely a year later, abandoning his wife and five children. He had made the first break with conventional middle-class life and was now free to devote himself entirely to painting.

Gauguin’s distaste for Western civilization was growing and in 1887 he set sail for Panama where he found work as a laborer on the canal, but was fired after only two weeks. His search for simplicity took him to Martinique, but since he could not make a living as an artist there, he went to Pont-Aven in Brittany in 1888.

By now Gauguin had moved away from Impressionism; the Japanese influence was dominant. His painting The Yellow Christ, with its large, flat areas of bold color marked his final break with the movement and was the start of a style that was to influence future generations of artists. Van Gogh’s brother, Theo, encouraged him in this direction.

Gauguin joined his friend Vincent van Gogh in Arles, where the two artists painted together for around two months. But their personalities clashed. They quarrelled. It ended with van Gogh cutting off his ear and suffering a mental breakdown. Traumatized, Gauguin left abruptly for Paris.

Financially destitute and in a state of depression, Gauguin made his final break with European civilization in 1891 by going to live in Tahiti. He raised money for the trip by auctioning his art collection, bought during his years as a stockbroker. He would remain in the South Seas for the rest of his life, with the exception of a two-year visit to France in 1893 due to illness.

Gauguin produced some of his best work in Tahiti. He painted Tahitians going about their everyday life in his characteristic style of large, flat areas of expressive color applied in bold brushstrokes separated by black outlines. He would give the paint a flowing quality by adding wax to the color. Under the free air of Tahiti, far from the restrictions of Europe, his paintings grew in power and scale. During this period he painted his masterpiece entitled Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? and then shortly afterwards attempted to commit suicide.

In 1901 Gauguin moved to the Marquesas islands where he died two years later. He clashed with the Catholic church and the governor because he stood up for the rights of the Polynesian natives.

Gauguin died in 1903 aged 54. The greatness of the works he left behind began to be appreciated by the art world around three years after his death. But for Gauguin, it was too little, too late.

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