Paul Gauguin1848-1903

Early life of Gauguin

Paul Gauguin was a stockbroker living in Paris.

In his spare time painted and became involved with the Impressionists, exhibiting at 5 of their shows.

In 1883, at the age of 34 he left his job, his wife and his five children to follow his dream of being a painter.

He was great friends with Pissarro.

Gauguin in Brittany,1886-1888

In 1886 he moved to Brittany to paint and escape civilisation.

Here people tended to flock around him and he gained the role of a master.

He was eccentric , self centred and moody and these were seen as signs of genius.

Paris-Central America 1887

Gauguin had spent some time in Peru as a young Child which may explain his interest in exotic places.

In 1887 he travelled to Panama in Central America and Martinique in the Caribbean to paint.

He wanted to experience a primitive culture.

However he returned from here ill and disappointed.

Back again to Pont Aven , Brittany,Feburary,1888.

Back in Pont Aven he began to paint in a new Style influenced by

1. Cezanne2. Japanese Prints (he

saw as “simple and composed”)

Gauguin’s new style

1. Didn’t paint too closely from nature rather drew ideas from it.

2. Shapes became flat areas surrounded by strong outlines.

3. Used only the boldest/strongest colours from Nature.

4. No shadows5. No Linear Perspective.

Didn’t paint too closely from nature rather drew ideas from it.

Shapes became flat areas surrounded by strong outlines.

Used only the boldest/strongest colours from Nature.

No shadows No Linear Perspective

Vision after the Sermon.

We will now study in detail what is said to be Gauguin’s first Masterpiece, Vision after the Sermon , Jacob Wrestling with the Angel.

This painting is a clear indication of his change in style and the influence of Japanese Prints, Cezanne and Artists like the symbolists.

Vision after the Sermon1888

Vision after the sermon, 1888.

Subject matter

Gauguin was impressed by the simple faith of these Breton women.

It is not a religious picture so much as a picture about religious people.

He attempts to show the strength of their faith.

Vision after the Sermon, 1888.

Subject matterThe scene was inspired by the piety of

these peasant women and their response to a sermon they have just heard, which causes them to have a vision about the struggle between good and evil.

The scene could be described as anti –naturalistic as it is based on the woman’s vision of Jacob wrestling the angel.

Vision after the sermon, 1888.

Theme

It represents not only Jacob’s struggles as seen in the minds of the pious Bretons, but Gauguin’s own struggle, in trying out a new painting technique and style to convey his new ideals.

Vision after the sermon, 1888.

Vision after the sermon, 1888.

CompositionThe women form a

curve on the lower left of the painting making a continuous line by their white caps and dark dresses.

Vision after the sermon, 1888.

Composition This is counter-balanced by the strong diagonal of the tree trunk.

Its leaves lead the viewer to the upper right hand corner of the canvas, hence creates a frame for the focal point of the painting, the women’s vision.

Vision after the sermon, 1888.

Composition The diagonal sweep of the apple tree a pictorial device borrowed from Japanese art.

It divides the real from the imaginary.

Vision after the sermon, 1888.

Style He rejects traditional perspective, crops the foreground figures, flattens form and rejects the use of shadow showing the influence of what?

Japanese Prints

Vision after the sermon, 1888.

Style StyleThe cropped figure

of the priest is a feature borrowed from the Japanese art and Degas.

The head-dress and collars are treated as flat white areas shadowed with pale blue.

Vision after the sermon, 1888.

StyleThis profile of

the praying woman shows features borrowed from Japanese art, folk art and medieval stained glass.

He has simplified figures and used flat un-modelled (no use of shading or 3-D) areas of bright colour.

Vision after the sermon, 1888.

Colour Unmixed colours are applied in large areas, un-naturalistic colours...red, white, black, blue and brown.

Solid shapes are outlined by a blue black line.

Vision after the sermon, 1888.

ColourThe face is barely

modelled, it is boldly highlighted in white.

The lower lip, formed with the crimson strokes picks up the crimson in the background.

Gauguin in Arles, 1888

In 1888, on the invitation of Van Gogh, he moved to Arles in the South of France, to help Vincent begin an Artists colony.

However this trip ended in complete disaster and he returned to Paris.

The Yellow Christ 1888/1889

Subject Matter The Yellow Christ 1889

Inspired by the religious shrines , Gauguin modelled the figure of the crucified Christ on a wooden Christ he saw in a church in Pont Aven.

The Yellow Christ,1889

Subject MatterGauguin was deeply impressed by

profoundly superstitious Catholicism of Breton peasants.

This scene focused on the strength of the Breton women’s faith, representing the power of their inner vision (like in vision after the Sermon) which brings to reality Christ’s suffering.

The Yellow Christ 1888/1889

Subject Matter The Yellow Christ 1889

The Sailor climbing over the stone wall is a little incidental detail, giving a sense of everyday life.

The Yellow Christ 1888/1889

Style The Yellow Christ 1889

Gauguin sought a unity in his painting in which line, colour and colour all contributed to the mood he was hoping to express.

The Yellow Christ 1888/1889

Style

Figures are simplified almost childlike in his style.

It is non-naturalistic imaginary forms are combined with a stylized landscape.

The Yellow Christ 1888/1889

ColourPainted with flat areas

of un-modelled colour and bold outline.

The colour of the main focus of the painting, the yellow Christ is echoed throughout the yellows and oranges of the landscape.

The Yellow Christ 1888/1889

Colour The Yellow Christ 1889Treated in non

naturalistic heightened colour, the background of depicts the village of Pont Aven.

Colours do not fade into the background (he does not use aerial perspective)

The Yellow Christ 1888/1889

Technique

Technique is crude and primitive.

The Yellow Christ 1888/1889

Composition The Yellow Christ 188

The cross placed slightly off centre, dominates the entire painting, spanning both height and breadth of the canvas.

The Yellow Christ 1888/1889

Composition The Yellow Christ 1889

Balancing the strong verticals formed by the arms of Christ the picture is divided horizontally into

BackgroundMiddle groundForeground

Tahiti 1881-1883 1895-1903

He longed for a more primitive life and moved to Tahiti in 1891

Returned to Paris in 1893 penniless

Left again for Tahiti in 1895 never to return to France again.

Tahitian Women on the Beach, (1891)

Characteristics of Gauguin’s Tahitian work.

1. Tahitian people represented to him the mystery of human existence.

2. Paintings are exotic not picturesque.

3. He seeks to express in his work the life of the people.

4. He suggests a primitive lost paradise

Woman with Flower 1891

Gauguin's painting methods

Different from Impressionists who applied colours in small dabs and Van Gogh who used rich, thick impastos and expressionistic brushstrokes.

He used broad areas of colour. Flat but with subtle variations in hue.

The Midday Nap, (1894)

Gauguin’s painting methods

He added wax to make paint smooth.

Paint is seldom thick, being thinnest near the edges of forms.

Forms are often outlined with Prussian blue and earth red.

He applied paint thinly with palette knife or paintbrush.

Woman with Flower 1891

Gauguin's painting methods

He often applied thin paint on un-primed hessian or sackcloth not canvas.

The rough weave of the canvas is often visible through the paint.

Woman with Flower 1891

Gauguin's painting methods

Perhaps these techniques (his use of thin paint and sackcloth) were a consequence of his poverty.

Two Tahitian Woman with Mango Blossoms, 1899

Subject Matter

The women of Tahiti with their classic gentle beauty Fascinated Gauguin.

He idealised them comparing their behaviour and manner to the women of Ancient Greece.

Two Tahitian Woman with Mango Blossoms, 1899

Subject matter and Theme.

The two women , dressed in a South Sea manner, represent Gauguin’s dream of an idyllic society

Two Tahitian Woman with Mango Blossoms, 1899

ThemeGauguin presents a

view of the islands as a serene and peaceful haven but in reality he never found the heaven on earth that he sought there

Two Tahitian Woman with Mango Blossoms, 1899

CompositionThe women fill the

whole canvas.They carry a basket

of mango blossoms, the most typical flower of the tropics, like an offering of their innocence and purity of spirit .

Two Tahitian Woman with Mango Blossoms, 1899

Style and techniqueForms are often

outlined with Prussian blue and earth red.

He applied paint thinly with palette knife or paintbrush.

Two Tahitian Woman with Mango Blossoms, 1899

Style and techniqueHe used broad

areas of colour. Flat but with subtle variations in hue.

The Real Tahiti

However Tahiti was not the primitive , mysterious and unaffected Paradise that Gauguin’s paintings suggest.European’s were everywhere on the island.

Gauguin was often very short on money whilst on the Island, he was at one time so deeply in debt that he tried to poison himself.

Where do we come from? Who are we? Where are we going to? 1897

He used the Tahitian people as a vehicle for his sense of mystery of human existence.

Where do we come from? Who are we? Where are we going to?

However the mystery was more in Gauguin’s mind than the reality of Tahitian peoples lives.

His paintings show men and women removed from the influence of Europeans however in reality were everywhere on the island.

Where do we come from? Who are we? Where are we going to?

Subject MatterGauguin was suffering from a deep depression,

his daughter in Denmark had died, he was suffering from fever and infection when put all his energy into painting this work. He planned to kill himself when he finished this painting.

The Real Tahiti

However he took advantage of the open and welcoming nature of the native Tahitians, especially embracing their open attitudes to sexuality.

He lived with and had relationships with several Tahitian girls some as young as 13 and 14 years of age, at least one girl bore him a child.

End of life

1902, A fight with French soldiers left him with a broken leg.

However these difficulties do not come across in his cool, timeless and mysterious paintings.

Suffering from eczema and awaiting a jail sentence he died suddenly of a heart attack in May 1903.

Leaving cert sample question

Discuss the innovations in painting which developed in the second half of the 19th century. Support your discussion with reference to named works by at least 2 artists.

Illustrate your answer.