Paul Gauguin(1848 —1903)French artist

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“Life is merely a fraction of a second. An infinitely small amount of time to fulfill our desires, our dreams, our passions.”

—Paul Gauguin

Paul Gauguin was born in Paris on June 7, 1848. Gauguin was born in Paris, but his family moved to Peru when he was a young child. His journalist father died on the journey to South America. Eventually returning to France, Gauguin took to the seas as a merchant marine. Later, he joined the French Navy. Gauguin began his career as a stockbroker in 1872.He meets a young Danish woman named Mette Gad ,whom he marries in 1873. The couple eventually had five children together.

Gauguin began painting in his spare time, but quickly became serious about his hobby. Influenced by his mentor, Arosa, Gauguin began to collect art, and purchased paintings. Arosa also introduced Gauguin to Pissarro who became his friend and art teacher.

Gauguin was interested in impressionism. Gauguin was invited to show at the group's fourth exhibition in 1879, and his work appeared among the works of many artistic greats .By 1883 ,he stopped working as a stockbroker. He separated from his wife and kids and moved to Brittany, France.

Self-Portrait by Paul Gauguin, 1885

What is Impressionism? It was called

Impressionism because artists were not as exacting about painting a realistic picture.

They used short brush strokes, applying the paint thickly, to create the idea, or impression, of a subject.

The paint on the canvas looks very thick. If you stand close it looks blurry, but if you stand back you can see the whole picture.

Port of Dieppe,1885

Still Life with Three Puppies, 1888

In 1887, Gauguin had abandoned naturalistic depictions and colors. After one year, Gauguin and his friend ,Bernard, developed a new style, which came to be known as “Cloisonnism” or “Symbolism”.

Influenced by Japanese prints, as well as folk art and ancient frescoes (古代壁画 ) their paintings rejected tradition perspective and made use of thick contours and large flat areas of uniform colour.

Under the Pandanus（ 1891）

Notice theproportions:

Large feetrelative to thebody

Bold colours

Large,flatplanes ofcolourswith littledetail

He painted (1)“ By the Sea”(Fatata te Miti) , (2)“Ave Maria”(Ia Orana Maria) and other paintings made in Tahiti are depictions of an untamed(野性 ) nature with people being an organic part of it. Gauguin stayed in Tahiti until 1893, when poor 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 he became seriously ill with syphilis(梅毒 ) and in trouble with the French authorities. He moved to the Marquesas, seeking an easier and cheaper life. His health, unfortunately, deteriorated(恶化 ) further, but he continued to paint until he died on May 8, 1903.(1) (2)

Representative Paintings

Gauguin exhibited a unique style of painting “Suzanne Sewing”during the Impressionist show of 1881.The texture of guitar and wall-hanging expresses very perfectly ,but the expression of other things are not obviously. The color is very bold and intense.

The setting and still life character of this painting point out Manet, the nude study and the sewing daily gestures(手势 ) betray the realistic vision of Degas, while the richness of the nuances of light and the blue and green shades on the naked skin bring this work closer to Renoir.

Suzanne Sewing (1881)

The color of this painting is subjective, this has manifested the characteristics of modernism drawing that starts from Gauguin and other artists.

Although his paintings prefer warm, such as red or yellow, but all is dim colors, and the concentration is very strong.

The Swineherd,Brittany (1888)

It seems like a Christianity theme. In fact, Gauguin is characterized by Symbolism, described the generated illusion when the priest explained the religious doctrine to the peasant women in the church.

The strange hat that the peasant women in Brittany wears strengthened the decoration effect of picture, but the "fight" scene, was actually processed is not too obvious.

Vision After The Sermon(1889)

The Yellow Christ(1889)

“The Yellow Christ” reflects the style of Symbolism. Although the color is magnificent, actually demonstrates(显示 ) Brittany's natural scenery. The image of women appears graceful.

He simplified the composition, making the contours to become thick, and strengthens the color's density.

TheBeautiful Angele (1889)

1891, Gauguin’s painting, “Two Tahiti Women”, is a true masterpiece. He liked their naive and appreciated(欣赏 ) the rich colors on their skins.

The defects(缺陷 ) of some structures have become a valuable thing, because they reflect the artist‘s unrestrained(奔放 ).

Two Tahiti Women(1891)

Gauguin considered that “Spirit of The Dead Watching” was one of his excellent paintings.This painting is full of glorious harmony. However, due to Gauguin followed the principles of Symbolism in the painting introduced a ghost image. The image here is very inconsistent.

Spirit of The Dead Watching （ 1892）

It is the most colossal canvas painted by Paul Gauguin. This painting shows the image of the meaning of human destiny from birth to death.

Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going? (1897)

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