This post is directly referred to Paul Gauguin's life. Here, I intend to write about his lifetime; why he decided to move to Tahiti and how he represented himself as an artist.
Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin was born on 7 June 1848 in Paris. A son of half Peruvian couple. In 1851 family left the town for positive political authorities in Peru. Unfortunately, his father died on the voyage. Family, with mother and sister, settled in Lima for four years. Those years had a significant impact on his further career.
At the age of 7, they came back to France to the Orléans. He was a teachable boy with high grades. As soon as he graduated, he joins to the military as a pilot's assistant. His service last 3 years, then he held a permanent job as a stockbroker. In 1873 he married Danish woman Mette Sophie Gad.
In his free time, he frequently visited galleries with his friend Camille Pissaro. His attitude toward painting became more serious. Gauguin rented a studio and showed paintings in Impressionist exhibitions held in 1881 and 1882. He has close relations with Picasso and Cézanne. However, he left France with his family in order to live their lives. Apparently, driven to paint full-time, returned to Paris alone in 1885. Then, he felt miserable, art started to be a dull path of exploring. Furthermore, time spent with his friend, Van Gogh pulling him into depression. ''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 vigour.'' (Paul Gauguin The Complete Works, n.d.) In those times, there was a vogue for different cultures. Gauguin participated then in one of Japan (Japonisme) exhibition. In 1891, Gauguin, frustrated by lack of recognition at home and financially destitute, sailed to the tropics to escape European civilization and "everything that is artificial and conventional". He has a more survival thought on living on ''fish and fruit'', but he could not manage to find the right place to stay. Living in Mataiea Village in Tahiti, he painted "Fatata te Miti" ("By the Sea"), "Ia Orana Maria" (Ave Maria). Gauguin came back to Paris in order to exhibit and sold some paintings from this productive period. Also, he suffered from several health problems and a lack of money. Sadly, ''He opened his first exhibition in Paris in 1893, but art circles, whose beauty perceptions consist of elegant, modern women, find Gauguin’s style rude'' (Çaparali, 2020). Afterwards, he turned to Punaauia in 1897, where he created the longest framed masterpiece "Where Do We Come From" and then lived the rest of his life in the Marquesas Islands. He wrote a book ''Noa Noa'' about his experiences and observations in Polynesia. By this time he was supported by a local art dealer Ambroise Vollard. In 1903, due to a problem with the church and the government, he was sentenced to three months in prison. Before he began his sentence, he had problems with alcohol and long term depression.
Paul Gauguin died of syphilis at age of 54. However, this period of dissipation was the most productive and most recognisable in his life. Without his curiosity and experience, we could not reach one of the significant seed of modern art history.
I order to understand his background and the place where he moved, I watched a movie named Gauguin: Voyage to Tahiti. The movie is not a reliable biography source, nevertheless represents his modest lifestyle. After watching this movie, I realised the tremendous difference between being an artist nowadays. Regarding Gauguin involvement in his passion, it is undoubtedly such a pity, how he treated himself. However, there were some scenes, when I started to appreciate the availability of painting stuff. He desperately wanted to create, but he did not have a canvas or a piece of paper. He managed to cut off the tree in order to crave the wooden stake. The reason why I reflected on this, is the inspirational power source that I found in him as an artist.
Paul Gauguin completely devotes himself to art. He disillusioned himself, therefore he died that quick.
He has taken inspiration from Japanese art and stained-glass windows. The motif of waves from Hokusai appears very often, it is so fascinating to see how different backgrounds had infused into his style.
Before he attempts suicide on the lush island, he had made an autobiographical work. “I wanted to die. In this despair, I gave this issue to a piece of sack that came to me in a snap. I could not help sign the picture. I drank arsenic but still did not die. Only my suffering increased.” The Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?; For me, it is one of the best pieces he has ever made. It is originally the largest canvas (139 cm × 375 cm), consisted scenes of his life. ''The questions posed in the title and indeed in the painting itself are perennial concerns about the human condition that continue to resonate with viewers today: origins, identity, purpose, and destiny.'' (Museum of Fine Arts Boston, n.d.) In order to create this painting, he assembled some elements from previous works. I found that solution useful for the set project. Actually, the structure of the collage. Furthermore, this ''pattern'' is specific to the Primitivism movement. Each plane is distinctive, by the contribution of vibrant colours with clear black contour. Which I found as an interesting appliance for my outcomes.
I found also a beautiful video clip consisted Gaugin's 283 paintings click.
For the last reflection, I will write about the When Will You Marry Me. Remarkable affair was set on the auction from 2015, where the price for this painting reached $300 million.
The second term taught me how to collect ideas in order. Moreover, I not going to make the same mistake with the initial ideas for the project. Thoughtfully, I will be developing my ideas to opt-in the right direction.
References:
Paul Gauguin The Complete Works Paul Gauguin Biography | Life, Paintings, Influence on Art | paul-gauguin.net. [Online] www.paul-gauguin.net. Available from : https://www.paul-gauguin.net/biography.html.
Gauguin: Voyage to Tahiti. (2017) [film] Dir. by EDOUARD DELUC.France, Polynesia: Movemovie et StudioCanal
Museum of Fine Arts Boston Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? [Online] collections.mfa.org. Available from : https://collections.mfa.org/objects/32558 [Accessed 11/04/21].
Çaparali, B. (2020) A Life Traveled for Art: Paul Gauguin. [Online] Loveinartsz. Available from : https://www.loveinartsz.com/a-life-traveled-for-art-paul-gauguin/ [Accessed 11/04/21].
Pictures:
GAUGUIN, P. Beach at Le Pouldu. [Oil on canvas] In: (1889)Private collection,
Good informative post - lots of detail about Gauguin's work - you could use some of this information in your Student Talk later in the term. You seem to have a greater clarity this term, keep it up!
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