Birth Year : 1848
Death Year : 1903
Country : France
Paul Gauguin, the most exotic of the Post-Impressionists, was born in
Paris. The son of a French journalist and a Peruvian woman, Gauguin spent
his early childhood in Peru, attended a boarding school in France, and
was a merchant seaman before becoming a stockbroker's assistant in 1871.
At first merely an occasional painter Gauguin frequented the Nouvelle Athenes
Café where he met Pissarro and
the Impressionists, whose works he purchased. He had married in 1873, and
so it was not until ten years later that Gauguin decided to give up the
business world and devote himself to the artistic. After a period in Rouen
where he stayed with Pissarro, who
had encouraged him, Gauguin went to Copenhagen with his Danish wife only
to leave his family forever a few months later. Gauguin was then past thirty-five
and almost penniless, though a loan from Degas,
who approved of his theories on the importance of line, permitted him to
go to Pont-Aven where he and Emile Bernard would develop Synthetism, a
style in which the expression of ideas and emotions are more important
than naturalistic representations, and flat color areas reminiscent of
Japanese woodcuts are outlined by heavy black lines in the manner of cloisonné
enamels or stained-glass windows.
Abandoning his earlier
Impressionism, Gauguin painted in this manner and also made ceramics and
wood carvings to earn a little money. These were decorative, finely conceived
Art Nouveau pieces, tinged with a symbolism learned from Puvis de Chavannes,
whom he had also admired. In 1887 Gauguin made an unsuccessful trip to
Martinique in his search for a primitive way of life. He spent 1888, the
year of his great Synthetist work "The Yellow Christ", in Arles with Vincent
van Gogh. This adventure ended in near
tragedy as van Gogh exhibited signs
of madness. Gauguin returned shortly to Brittany before leaving for Tahiti
on his constant quest for the simple life and the peace of mind he would
never really find.
Gauguin's mature style, developed in
the South, is a fusion of Oriental influences, personal symbolism, warm
color, strong design, and musically rich expression that offers a spiritual
image of the creative artist constantly seeking the unattainable. Gauguin
remained in Tahiti until 1893, when ill health and lack of funds forced
his return to Paris. He remained there until 1895 when he again settled
in Tahiti. His stay there ended in 1901 when seriously ill with syphilis
and in trouble with the French authorities. He moved to the Marquesas,
seeking an easier and cheaper life. His health, unfortunately, deteriorated
still further but he continued to paint until he died on May 8, 1903.
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(Eugene-Henri-)
Paul Gauguin
Tahitian
Landscape, 1891
(Eugene-Henri-)
Paul Gauguin
Matamoe
(Eugene-Henri-)
Paul Gauguin
Haere
Mai
(Eugene-Henri-)
Paul Gauguin
Woman
with Mango
(Eugene-Henri-)
Paul Gauguin
Life's
Questions - Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?
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