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Paul
Gauguin, the most exotic of the Post-Impressionists, was
born in Paris on June 7, 1848. 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 Camille
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 Edgard 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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