Artist: Paul Gauguin (1843 - 1903)
Nationality: French
Movement: Post-Impressionism
Media: Painting
Influences:

Biography:
The French Post-Impressionist painter worked until the financial crash in 1883 as a prosperous stockbrocker in Paris and Copenhagen. At the age of 35 he abandoned his business career, separated from his family and took up painting full-time. Gauguin's early painting is reminiscent of Pissarro while he was under the influence of the Barbizon painters. In the early 1880s Gauguin broadened his stroke, giving the paintings a tremulous rhythmic character. But he was financially unsuccessful with his pictures and left his family in Copenhagen to live in poverty in Paris. He traveled to Panama and Martinique and in 1888 met Emile Bernard in Brittany which whom he developed the art movement called Synthesism or Symbolism. Like all Post-Impressionist artists he passed through an Impressionist phase but became dissatisfied with the limitations of the style and advanced beyond it. Symbolism was a reaction to Courbet's Realism and came out of an urge to extend Impressionism by seeking new expressive powers. The Symbolists argued for an art that had the same eloquence, directness and universality as a symbol, that concentrated syntheses of impressions, ideas and experiences. Gauguin used intense, unnatural color without any indication of a light source in the scene. Jacob Wrestling with the Angel, 1888. He believed that western industrial society had faced mankind into an incomplete materialistic life while their emotions lay neglected. He left Paris to live among the peasants of Brittany in Western France where he noticed that religion was still a large part of their lives. He painted pictures about faith The Vision after the Sermon, 1888 is in a style inspired by folk art and medieval stained glass. By now modeling and perspective had given way to fleet, simplified shapes outlined heavily in black with unnatural, brilliant colors. Two years after moving to the countryside, he sailed to Tahiti in 1891 and lived in a native hut. He spent the rest of his life in the South Pacific and his paintings show the influences of the native art of the South Pacific and other non-European styles. He believed that the renewal of Western art and civilization must come from native cultures. His art took on its final, simplified form with its intensified color and backgrounds reduced to rhythmically curved shapes. Originally a businessman, Paul Gauguin received no formal training before he joined the members of the Impressionist movement, with whom he exhibited regularly. In 1885, Gauguin abandoned his business career, his wife and children, and his comfortable lifestyle for his art. He traveled between Britanny, Martinique, Arles, and Tahiti in his final years, using the native women of the islands as his primary subject matter. Gauguin died from a terminal illness in the Marquesas Islands, broke and wanted by the law.

Artworks in Museum Collections: (40)
Click the artwork titles below to see actual examples of artwork or works of art relevant to works by Paul Gauguin.

Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Paul Gauguin, Paul Gauguin*s Intimate Journals, translated by Van Wyck Brooks, preface by Emile Gauguin (New York: Boni and Liveright, 1921), 1921
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Paul Gauguin, 10 Gravures sur Bois d"aprÈs Les Bois Originaux par Pola Gauguin; Set of ten woodcuts, printed by Pola Gauguin: 7) L"Univers est creÈ (The Creation), 1921
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Paul Gauguin, 10 Gravures sur Bois d"aprÈs Les Bois Originaux par Pola Gauguin; Set of ten woodcuts, printed by Pola Gauguin: 6) Maruru (Merci; The God"s Festal Day), 1921
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Paul Gauguin, 10 Gravures sur Bois d"aprÈs Les Bois Originaux par Pola Gauguin; Set of ten woodcuts, printed by Pola Gauguin: 3) Te Po (La Grande Nuit; The God of the Night), 1921
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Paul Gauguin, 10 Gravures sur Bois d"aprÈs Les Bois Originaux par Pola Gauguin; Set of ten woodcuts, printed by Pola Gauguin: 2) Titre de Sourire (The Smile), 1921
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Paul Gauguin, Noa Noa. One of 10 Gravures sur Bois d"aprÈs Les Bois Originaux par Pola Gauguin; Set of ten woodcuts, printed by Pola Gauguin: 4) Noa Noa (EmbaumÈ, EmbaumÈ; O Fruitful Earth), 1921
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Paul Gauguin, L"arlÈsienne, Mme. Ginoux, 1888
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Paul Gauguin, 10 Gravures sur Bois d"aprÈs Les Bois Originaux par Pola Gauguin; Set of ten woodcuts, printed by Pola Gauguin: 1) Mahana Atua (La Nourriture des Dieux; the Feast of the Gods), 1921
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Paul Gauguin, 10 Gravures sur Bois d"aprÈs Les Bois Originaux par Pola Gauguin; Set of ten woodcuts, printed by Pola Gauguin: 10) Auti Te Pape (Les Femmes a la Riviere; The Priest"s Wife), 1921
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Paul Gauguin, 10 Gravures sur Bois d"aprÈs Les Bois Originaux par Pola Gauguin; Set of ten woodcuts, printed by Pola Gauguin: 9) Mahna No Varua Ino (Le Diable parle; Words of the Devil), 1921
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Paul Gauguin, Portfolio cover, 1921
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Paul Gauguin, 10 Gravures sur Bois d"aprÈs Les Bois Originaux par Pola Gauguin; Set of ten woodcuts, printed by Pola Gauguin: 8) Nave Nave Fenua (Terre Delicieuse; O Delightful Earth), 1921
The Metropolitan Museum of Art -
Two Tahitian Women, 1899 Paul Gauguin (French, 1848-1903)Oil on canvas; 37 x 28 1/2 in.
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Paul Gauguin, Te Po (Eternal Night), 1893 - 1894
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Paul Gauguin, Le Sourire, circa 1897 - 1901
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Paul Gauguin, Le Sourire, circa 1897 - 1901
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts -
Artist: Paul Gauguin Title: O Fruitful Earth Date: about 1894 Medium: woodcut in black ink
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Paul Gauguin, Les Laveuses, 19th - 20th century
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Paul Gauguin, 10 Gravures sur Bois d"aprÈs Les Bois Originaux par Pola Gauguin; Set of ten woodcuts, printed by Pola Gauguin: 5) Manao Tupapau (Elle pense au revenant; The Vigil of the Soul of the Dead), 1921
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Paul Gauguin, The Creation of the Universe, 19th - 20th century
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Paul Gauguin, Pastorales Martinique, 19th - 20th century
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Paul Gauguin, Baigneuses Bretonnes, 19th - 20th century
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Paul Gauguin, Breton Girl, 19th - 20th century
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Paul Gauguin, Les drames de la mer, Bretagne, 19th - 20th century
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Paul Gauguin, Miseres humaines, 19th - 20th century
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Paul Gauguin, Bretonnes a la Barriere, 19th - 20th century
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Paul Gauguin, L"univers est crÈÈ, 19th - 20th century
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Paul Gauguin, Manao Tupapau-Elle pense en revenant, 1894
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts -
Artist: Paul Gauguin Title: Tahitian Landscape Date: 1891 Medium: oil on canvas Dimensions: H.26-3/4 x
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Paul Gauguin, Les vieilles filles (Arles), 19th - 20th century
The Metropolitan Museum of Art -
Still Life Style of Paul Gauguin (French, late 19th century)Oil on canvas; 15 1/8 x
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Paul Gauguin, Femme cueillant des Fruits, 19th - 20th century
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Paul Gauguin, Les drames de la mer (Une Descente dans le Maelstrom), 19th - 20th century
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Paul Gauguin, Les cigales et les fourmis (Souvenir de la Martinique), 19th - 20th century
The Metropolitan Museum of Art -
Still Life with Teapot and Fruit, 1896 Paul Gauguin (French, 1848-1903)Oil on canvas; 18 3/4
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts -
Artist: Paul Gauguin Title: Watched by the Spirits of the Dead Date: 1893 - 1894
The Metropolitan Museum of Art -
A Farm in Brittany, probably 1894 Paul Gauguin (French, 1848-1903)Oil on canvas; 28 1/2 x
The Metropolitan Museum of Art -
Two Women, 1901 or 1902 Paul Gauguin (French, 1848-1903)Oil on canvas; 29 x 36 1/4
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Paul Gauguin, Soyez amoureuses, vous serez heureuses (Be in love, and you will be happy), circa 1893 - 1895
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts -
Artist: Paul Gauguin Title: Under the Pandanus Date: 1891 Medium: oil on canvas Dimensions: H.28-3/4

Artnews Articles and Exhibition Information: (30)
Click on any of the links below to read about artnews or exhibitions related to Gauguin

Van Gogh Museum: Van Gogh & Gauguin
The tale of the two artists who lived and worked together and fought each other is well known, but has never been told in the form of an exhibition. The exhibition looks in detail at the relationship between Van Gogh and Gauguin in the contex...
Göteborg Museum of Art: Paul Gauguin: A Distant Paradise

Art Institute of Chicago: Van Gogh and Gauguin: The Studio of the South
The story of two artists who lived, and battled, with each other in the struggle to realize their potential is at ...
National Museum of Fine Arts: Impressionism and the North
There are many links between, mainly French, Impressionism and artists in the Nordic region. The exhibition shows paintings done by Paul Gauguin during his time in Copenhagen in the mid-1800s. In that same period, Danish artist Theodor Philipsen w...
Saint Louis Art Museum: Vincent van Gogh and the Painters of the Petit Boulevard
Van Gogh actively participated in discussing and debating new ideas, which ultimately became the shape and substance of modern art in Europe. He identified these artists as the painters of the petit boulevard, a term that reflected their desire...
Philbrook Museum of Art: The Triumph of French Painting: Masterpieces from Ingres to Matisse
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Brooklyn Museum of Art: Public Programs - Impressionists in Winter
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Brooklyn Museum of Art: Public Programs - Impressionists in Winter
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Van Gogh Museum: Expansion and Renovation of the Van Gogh Museum
The modernized Van Gogh Museum After the re-opening in June 1999, the modernized Rietveld building will be entirely devoted to paintings of Van Gogh and the permanent coll...
Brooklyn Museum of Art: Public Programs - Impressionists in Winter
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Kimbell Art Museum: Gauguin and Impressionism
The exhibition and its scholarly catalogue deal with the full range of the artist’s participation in the Impressionist movement:  the paintings he submitted to the Impressionist exhibitions, the ways in which his extensive private collection inspi...
Metropolitan Museum of Art: Gauguin in New York Collections: The Lure of the Exotic
Comprising paintings, sculptures, ceramics, drawings, and prints, the exhibition vividly conveys the exceptional range of Gauguin's career, both in terms of his technical facility in a variety of media and the far-flung places and cultures that in...
Pierre Gianadda Foundation: Russian Icons, the Saints
Noted for its outstanding exhibitions the Fondation Gianadda, constructed over Roman ruins, since its opening in 1978, has presented works by such distinguished artists as Chagall, Gauguin, van Gogh, Kahlo, Kandinsky, Lautrec, M...
MONTREAL MUSEUM OF FINE ART: Gauguin to Toulouse-Lautrec: French Prints of the 1890s
The style current among these artists in the nineties was typified by bold design, cursive lines, vibrant patterns and brilliant planes of flat colour - an approach absorbed from infl...
Musee d'Orsay: Theo van Gogh : art-dealer, collector, Vincent's brother
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Museum of Modern Art: Van Gogh's Postman: The Portraits of Joseph Roulin
Joseph Roulin was a postal employee in Arles, and van Gogh painted him for the first time in the summer of ...
Museum of Modern Art: ModernStarts: Places
Landscape painting between 1880 and 1920 ranged from idealized and allegorical depictions of nature, as seen in the ...
Metropolitan Museum of Art: Gauguin in New York Collections: The Lure of the Exotic
Comprising paintings, sculptures, ceramics, drawings, and prints, the exhibition vividly conveys the exceptional range of Gauguin's career, both in terms of his technical facility in a variety of media and the far-flung places and cultures that in...
Vancouver Art Gallery: Impressionist Masterworks from the National Gallery of Canada
The first Impressionist exhibition of 1874 exploded like a bombshell in the complacent world of French academic art. The young artists who participated in this show and the seven exhibitions that followed, had abandoned historical subje...
Denver Art Museum: Impressionism: Paintings Collected by European Museums
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Frick Art and Historical Center: Post-Impressionist Prints: Paris in the 1890s
Late 19th-century Parisian painters experimented freely with new developments in printmaking and worked closely with skillful printmakers and publishers to produce some of the ...
Gemeentemuseum Den Haag: The Time of Degas
The display revolves around Edgar Degas, the odd-man-out of the Impressionist movement. The breadth of his taste is demonstrated by his appreciation both of the Classicism of Ingres and of the free handling of paint and use of colour in Delacroix'...
National Gallery of Art: Prints Abound: Paris in the 1890s, from the Collections of Virginia and Ira Jackson and the National Gallery of Art
Bonnard's graphic works will be represented in depth, including his magnificent four-panel color-lithographic folding screen, Promenade des Nourrices, Frise des Fiacres (Nursemaids' ...
National Gallery of Art: The Unfinished Print: Works by Rembrandt, Piranesi, Degas, Munch and Others
The exhibition opens in conjunction with Jasper Johns: Prints from Four Decades and American Naive Paintings, which will be on view during the same period in adjacent galleries. ...
Van Gogh Museum: Theo van Gogh
The Van Gogh Museum first opened its doors in 1973. The building, designed by Dutch architect Gerrit Rietveld, houses the worlds largest collection of works by Vincent van Gogh: some 200 paintings, 500 drawings ...
Museum of Fine Art, Houston: Faces of Impressionism: Portraits from American Collections
Faces of Impressionism spans more than 50 years of art history and includes 60 works of probing individual and group portraits, figures in landscape settings, and self-portraits. ...
National Gallery of Canada: Monet, Renoir, and the Impressionist Landscape
The Impressionists' profound influence on French landscape painting is examined as the exhibition concludes with a look at works by other artists in th...
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art: Degas to Picasso: Painters, Sculptors and the Camera
Dating from roughly 1885 to 1915, the 364 paintings, drawings, sculptures and photographs on view demonstrate the pervasive and diverse role of photography in the work and working processes of these significant artists. The works...
Brett Whiteley Studio: Animals and Birds: The Artist's Favorite Theme
Metaphorically an escape into what Whiteley saw as the freedom of the natural world, these works provoked in him both curiosity and a tremendous sense of release. As a child, Whiteley always loved visiting Taronga Park Zoo in Sydney and from a...
Albright-Knox Art Gallery: The Triumph of French Painting: Masterpieces from Ingres to Matisse
The exhibition is currently being presented at the Royal Academy of Art in London, England, before concluding with its visit to the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. The exhibition has received critical accolades in each of its previous engagements. ...

Further Artwork and Information:

WebMuseum: Gauguin, (Eugène-Henri-) Paul
Paul Gauguin Online
Paul Gauguin and the Russian Avantgarde
Paul Gauguin - Olgas Gallery
Gardens of the Sunlight - Paul Gauguin
NGA - Paul Gauguin
Gauguin, Paul : 1848 - 1903 - Post Impressionism, painting, sculpture, drawing, Absolutearts.com
Paul Gauguin | Post-Impressionist Artist
CGFA- Paul Gauguin (Page 1)
Mark Hardens Artchive - Paul Gauguin
Paul Gauguins Journals

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