AN APPRECIATION: Paul Gauguin Self-portrait
Paul Gauguin was another great artist to emerge from that small band of 19th century French artists known as the Impressionists. He lived a life that is as colorful as his paintings. Highly egotistical, he had strong opinions about his art. Few people agreed during his lifetime. However, he believed in his art to such an extent that he endured numerous hardships for his art. In the end, he proved to be right.
Career Gauguin lived an adventurous but ultimately tragic life. He was born in Paris in 1848, a year that saw revolutions across continental Europe. His father was a liberal journalist and supported such causes. Consequently, when reactionary forces took back control of France, the Gauguins had to go into exile. Fortunately, Gauguin's mother had high ranking relations living in Peru including the president of the country and the former viceroy. Therefore, when Paul was three, he embarked with his parents bound for Peru. During the voyage, his father passed away. His mother continued on with Paul and his sister to Peru where they lived a privileged existence with her relatives for four years. Political changes in Peru resulted in her relatives losing power and so she decided to return to France. Not long after her return, she learned that her great uncle, the former viceroy, had died and so there appeared to be little reason to go back to Peru. As a result, Paul was raised by his paternal grandfather in Orleans while his mother worked as a dressmaker in Paris. He attended a number of local schools and then a prestigious boarding school. When he was 17, a thirst for travel and adventure surfaced and Paul enrolled as an apprentice seaman. He made several voyages between Le Havre and Rio de Janeiro. During the Franco-Prussian War, he was a sailor in the French navy. When the war ended, Gauguin made an abrupt change in direction. He went to work for a financial house in Paris and proved himself a conscientious and talented employee. Earning a good salary, he proposed to Mette-Sophie Gad, a young Danish woman from a good bourgeois family. Together they settled down to a comfortable life with children of their own. On Sundays, Gauguin indulged his hobby - - painting. He also spent time visiting the museums and galleries. Even though they were scorned by the critics, he developed a taste for the work of the young artists known as the Impressionists. He purchased paintings by Claude Monet, Pierre August Renoir, Paul Cezanne, Camille Pissarro among others. Even though Gauguin was still an amateur, the young artists began to look upon him as part of their circle. In particular, the very approachable and tolerant Pissarro took Gauguin under his wing and encouraged his artistic ambitions. Largely at Pissarro's insistence, Gauguin was invited to exhibit at the Sixth Impressionist Exhibition in 1880. (He would also go on to participate in the Seventh and Eighth Impressionist Exhibitions). Although he knew that most of his Impressionist friends were living in poverty, in 1883, Gauguin decided to give up his well-paid position at the financial house and devote himself to painting. He believed in himself and in his artistic talent. Gauguin was able to convince Mette that his destiny lay with art. Together, the family moved to Rouen to be close to where Pissarro was working. However, Rouen proved to be too expensive and so Mette, who now had her doubts about this adventure, suggested that they move to Copenhagen where they would have the support of her family. She also probably hoped that if she could get her husband away from his artist friends and in among her bourgeois friends and family, life would return to the comfortable existence that they had known when Gauguin worked for the financial house. In Copenhagen, to please his wife, Gauguin took a job as a sales representative for a commercial firm. He was not very good at it but Mette was also bringing in money working as a translator and a French teacher. The family's lifestyle began to resemble the old days. However, Gauguin missed the stimulation offered by his artist friends and he chafed under the yoke of the strict middle class morality of his wife's family and friends. He was betraying his star by being only a part-time artist. Therefore, in 1885, the Gauguins agreed to separate. Paul would return to Paris with their eldest son while his wife would remain in Denmark with the other four children. Shortly after arriving in Paris, his son became ill and so Gauguin took a job as a bill poster at 5 francs a day in order to pay for care. When the boy recovered, he was sent to a boarding school in a Parisian suburb with funds provided by Gauguin's sister. This enabled Gauguin to concentrate entirely on his art. In 1886, Gauguin moved to the small village of Pont-Aven in Brittany. Life was less expensive there but Gauguin was also attracted by the simplicity and rural mysticism of the people who lived there. It was different than the life he had known in Paris. He would return there several times during his life. Soon, however, Gauguin was longing to travel again. This time he set his sights on the Caribbean island of Martinique. Life would be easy and simple in the sunshine far from industrial civilization. In order to get there, he first had to go to Panama where the French government was trying to build a canal that would link the Atlantic and Pacific. Gauguin toiled as an ordinary digger in the Yellow Fever ravished jungle in order to get the fare for a passage to Martinique. At first, Gauguin was thrilled by the island. He incorporated bright, tropical colors into his palette. However, he soon tired of the poverty, disease and the climate. Working once more as a sailor, he returned to France and Brittany. Before he had left for Martinique, Gauguin had met a young Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh. Gauguin liked Van Gogh's work and Van Gogh was awed by Gauguin. Since their meeting, Van Gogh had moved to Arles in the south of France where he dreamed of establishing a community of artists with Gauguin as its head. Accordingly, he wrote to Gauguin inviting him to Arles. With the promise of a subsidy from Van Gogh's art dealer brother Theo, Gauguin agreed to go. The experiment started off well enough. The two artists worked together creating pictures of scenes around Arles. However, soon Gauguin's egotism and Van Gogh's unstable personality led to friction. One evening, Van Gogh attacked Gauguin with a razor. Gauguin was not hurt but later Van Gogh used the weapon to cut off a portion of his ear. Gauguin headed back to Paris and Brittany. By this point, Gauguin's style had moved away from Impressionism. He was becoming increasing interested in distilling images to their essence and conveying inner thoughts and emotions. This attracted a small group of followers who came to Pont-Aven to be with Gauguin. Nonetheless, Gauguin once again began to long to travel. This time, he imagined himself in the South Pacific, living in a tropical paradise among people who were un-corrupted by European civilization. Therefore, in 1890, he auctioned all of his paintings in order to obtain the fare to Tahiti. He also secured an unpaid commission from the French government to study the people and culture of the island. When he arrived in Tahiti, Gauguin set to work enthusiastically. He also took a 13-year old girl as his local “wife”. However, as in Martinique, he soon became disenchanted with the hunger and poverty of this paradise. After he fell ill, he begged the colonial officials to send him home. They had no budget for such things but this odd character did have a government commission and so they eventually arranged for him to go home. Back in France, Gauguin found that an uncle had bequeathed him a small legacy. This money enabled him to set up a large studio in Paris. He took to dressing conspicuously in pseudo-Polynesian outfits in order to build his image as an eccentric artist. He also took on a teenage Javanese woman as his mistress. Lastly, he financed an exhibition of his works at the Durand-Ruel gallery. The exhibition was not a great success, only a few paintings were sold. Of his former comrades, Monet, Renoir and even Pissaro were critical of Gauguin's current style. However, Edgar Degas was supportive and purchased one of the works. In addition, the exhibition sparked an interest in Gauguin's work in some critics. This seed would grow in the next few years. Recalling his responsibilities, Gauguin also used his new fortune to travel to Copenhagen where he had an unproductive meeting with his wife. After that he returned to Brittany. While there, he got into a fight (Gauguin was an accomplished boxer) with a group of sailors who had made racist remarks about Gauguin's mistress. One of them kicked Gauguin in the ankle, breaking it. The wound never fully healed. While he was attempting to recover, his mistress went to Paris and emptied Gauguin's studio of everything she thought had value. She left his paintings behind. Rejected, crippled and betrayed, Gauguin returned to his dream of living a simple life in a South Seas paradise. Consequently, he held another not-very-successful auction of his work in order to raise a cheap fare for a second journey to Tahiti. Tahiti was no better the second time. Although he produced some of his best known works there, he suffered from poverty, hunger and illness. His dream of an un-corrupted native society proved an illusion. In addition, he learned that his favorite child, his daughter Aline, had died. Gauguin made an attempt at suicide but only succeeded in making himself ill. Meanwhile, back in Paris, art dealer Ambroise Vollard took an interest in Gauguin's work. He exhibited some of Gauguin's paintings and offered him a contract, which at least provided Gauguin with a stream of money but not enough to match his chronic overspending. Back in Tahiti, Gauguin quarreled with some of the colonial officials and decided to move to the nearby island of Hiva-Hoa. Life was not much better there. As in Tahiti, he took another teenage mistress who like her predecessor became pregnant. Illness and disputes with the local officials continued. Once again, he began to think of returning to France. Such a voyage never took place. His quarrel with one of the local officials blossomed into legal action. Gauguin was fined and sentenced to prison. He appealed but did not have the money to go to Tahiti where the appeal was to be heard. It was all too much for him. Gauguin was found dead in his hut on May 8, 1903. An auction was held of his possessions including his paintings, which the locals viewed with scornful laughter. A few years later, they would be recognized as masterpieces. Analysis One might well expect that such a dramatic life story would overshadow the art. However, Gauguin's art is strong enough to outshine the drama. Gauguin began as a serious artist with the Impressionists. Accordingly, In his work of this period, there are influences of Degas, Cezanne and, of course, Pissarro. While not up to the work of Monet or Renoir, Gauguin's Impressionistic works do not detract from the strength of the group. Generally speaking, the objective of the Impressionism was to depict transitory moments through a close study of nature. Although the scene was filtered through the artist's reaction to the scene, portraying reality was the key element. Over time Gauguin came to believe what was important in art was the expression of the artist's feelings. Nature and the scene being depicted were only tools used in expressing the artist's thoughts and feelings. Therefore, Gauguin advised: “Don't copy nature too literally. Art is an abstraction. Derive it from nature as you dream in nature's presence . . ." In other words, "It is better to paint from memory:your soul triumphs." ,” Gauguin believed in “painting from imagination.” An early example of this is “Jacob Wrestling with an Angel” in which a group of Breton women exiting church are confronted with a scene from the Bible. Clearly, Gauguin injected Jacob and the angel into the scene. Similarly, in his Tahitian works, Gauguin presents scenes of South Sea islanders living a simple life un-corrupted by European civilization. The reality was, however, that the islands had been corrupted and the indigenous people suffered from disease and poverty. Thus, Gauguin was painting his dream rather than what was actually before his eyes. He also embellished these scenes with religious symbols which again makes them reflections of his thoughts rather than precise depictions of reality. In so doing, Gauguin helped to open the door to modern art. If what is important is the artist's feelings rather than the reality of the scene before him or her, the artist is free to distort the image in order to express his or her message. Indeed, the artist is free to dispense with reality altogether and create an entirely abstract image. |
Above: "Jacob Wrestling the Angel."
Below: An Impressionistic work - -"Huts Among the Trees". 
Two landscapes painted during Gauguin's many stays in Brittany. Above: "Breton Landscape".
Below: "Breton Village in Snow." 
Above: A painting from Gauguin's time in Arles with Van Gogh. "The Alscamps at Arles."
Below: "Tahitian Women on the Beach." 
Pictures from Gauguin's time in the South Seas, loaded with symbols.
Above: "We Greet Thee, Mary." Below: "The White Horse." 
See our profiles of these other Impressionists and members of their circle.
Frederic Bazille Eugene Boudin Marie Bracquemond Gustave Caillebotte Mary Cassatt Paul Cezanne Edgar Degas Henri Fantin-Latour Eva Gonzales Armand Guillaumin Edouard Manet Claude Monet (Part I The Early Years) Claude Monet (Part II High Impressionism) Claude Monet (Part III The Giverny Years) Berthe Morisot Camille Pissarro Pierre Auguste Renoir Alfred Sisley Suzanne Valadon Victor Vignon |
Artist appreciation - Paul Gauguin