Paul Gauguin: an unusual biography of an unusual man. Life after death
"Self-Portrait" 1888
Gauguin Paul (1848–1903), French painter. In his youth he served as a sailor, and from 1871–1883 as a stockbroker in Paris. In the 1870s, Paul Gauguin began painting, took part in impressionist exhibitions, and took advice from Camille Pissarro. From 1883 he devoted himself entirely to art, which led Gauguin to poverty, separation from his family, and wanderings. In 1886, Gauguin lived in Pont-Aven (Brittany), in 1887 - in Panama and on the island of Martinique, in 1888, together with Vincent van Gogh, he worked in Arles, in 1889-1891 - in Le Pouldu (Brittany). Rejection of contemporary society aroused Gauguin's interest in the traditional way of life and art. archaic Greece, countries of the Ancient East, primitive cultures. In 1891, Gauguin left for the island of Tahiti (Oceania) and after a short (1893–1895) return to France, he settled on the islands permanently (first on Tahiti, from 1901 on the island of Hiva Oa). Even in France, the search for generalized images, the mysterious meaning of phenomena (“Vision after the Sermon”, 1888, National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh; “Yellow Christ”, 1889, Albright Gallery, Buffalo) brought Gauguin closer to symbolism and brought him and a group of those who worked under his influence young artists to create a unique pictorial system - “synthetism”, in which the cut-off modeling of volumes, light-air and linear perspectives are replaced by a rhythmic comparison of individual planes of pure color, which completely filled the shapes of objects and plays a leading role in creating the emotional and psychological structure of the picture (“Cafe in Arles ”, 1888, Pushkin Museum, Moscow). This system has received further development in paintings painted by Gauguin on the islands of Oceania. Depicting the lush full-blooded beauty of tropical nature, natural people unspoiled by civilization, the artist sought to embody the utopian dream of an earthly paradise, of human life in harmony with nature (“Are you jealous?”, 1892; “The King’s Wife,” 1896; “Collecting fruits”) ", 1899, - all paintings in the Pushkin Museum, Moscow; "Woman Holding a Fruit", 1893, Hermitage, St. Petersburg).
"Tahitian Landscape" 1891, Musée d'Orsay, Paris
"Two Girls" 1899, Metropolitan, New York
"Breton Landscape" 1894, Musée d'Orsay, Paris
"Portrait of Madeleine Bernard" 1888, Museum of Art, Grenoble
"Breton village in the snow" 1888, Museum of Art, Gothenburg
"Awakening the Spirit of the Dead" 1892, Knox Gallery, Buffalo
Gauguin's canvases, in terms of their decorative color, flatness and monumentality of composition, and the generality of the stylized design, similar to panels, bore many of the features of the Art Nouveau style that was emerging during this period and influenced creative search masters of the “Nabi” group and other painters of the early 20th century. Gauguin also worked in the field of sculpture and graphics.
"Tahitian Women on the Beach" 1891
"Are you jealous?" 1892
"Women of Tahiti" 1892
"On the Coast" 1892
"Big Trees" 1891
"Never (Oh Tahiti)" 1897
"Saints' Day" 1894
"Vairumati" 1897
"When will you get married?" 1892
"By the Sea" 1892
"Alone" 1893
"Tahitian Pastorals" 1892
"Contes barbares" (Barbarian tales)
"Mask of Tehura" 1892, pua wood
"Merahi metua no Teha" amana (Ancestors of Teha "amana)" 1893
"Madame Mette Gauguin in Evening Dress"
In the summer of the late 80s of the last century, many French artists gathered in Pont-Aven (Brittany, France). They came together and almost immediately split into two hostile groups. One group included artists who embarked on the path of quest and were united by the common name “impressionists”. According to the second group, led by Paul Gauguin, this name was abusive. P. Gauguin was already under forty at that time. Surrounded by the mysterious aura of a traveler who had explored foreign lands, he had a great life experience both fans and imitators of his work.
Both camps were divided based on their position. If the Impressionists lived in attics or garrets, other artists occupied the best rooms of the Gloanek Hotel, dined in the large and most nice hall restaurant, where members of the first group were not allowed. However, clashes between factions not only did not prevent P. Gauguin from working, on the contrary, they to some extent helped him realize those features that caused him a violent protest. The rejection of the analytical method of the impressionists was a manifestation of his complete rethinking of the tasks of painting. The desire of the impressionists to capture everything they saw, their artistic principle- giving their paintings the appearance of something accidentally spotted - did not correspond to the imperious and energetic nature of P. Gauguin.
He was even less satisfied with the theoretical and artistic research of J. Seurat, who sought to reduce painting to the cold, rational use of scientific formulas and recipes. The pointillistic technique of J. Seurat, his methodical application of paint with cross strokes of the brush and dots irritated Paul Gauguin with its monotony.
The artist’s stay in Martinique among nature, which seemed to him a luxurious, fabulous carpet, finally convinced P. Gauguin to use only undecomposed color in his paintings. Together with him, the artists who shared his thoughts proclaimed “Synthesis” as their principle - that is, the synthetic simplification of lines, shapes and colors. The purpose of this simplification was to convey the impression of maximum color intensity and to omit everything that weakens such an impression. This technique formed the basis of old decorative painting of frescoes and stained glass.
P. Gauguin was very interested in the question of the relationship between color and paints. In his painting, he tried to express not the accidental and not the superficial, but the abiding and essential. For him, only the creative will of the artist was the law, and he saw his artistic task in the expression of inner harmony, which he understood as a synthesis of the frankness of nature and the mood of the artist’s soul, alarmed by this frankness. P. Gauguin himself spoke about it this way: “I do not take into account the truth of nature, visible externally... Correct this false perspective, which distorts the subject due to its truthfulness... You should avoid dynamism. Let everything breathe with you peace and peace of mind , avoid moving poses... Each of the characters should be in a static position." And he shortened the perspective of his paintings, bringing it closer to the plane, deploying the figures in a frontal position and avoiding foreshortening. That is why the people depicted by P. Gauguin are motionless in the paintings: they are like statues sculpted with a large chisel without unnecessary details.
Period mature creativity Gauguin's work began in Tahiti, and it was here that the problem of artistic synthesis received its full development. In Tahiti, the artist abandoned much of what he knew: in the tropics, forms are clear and definite, shadows are heavy and hot, and contrasts are especially sharp. Here all the tasks he set in Pont-Aven were resolved by themselves. P. Gauguin's paints become pure, without brushstrokes. His Tahitian paintings give the impression of oriental carpets or frescoes, so harmoniously the colors in them are brought to a certain tone.
"Who are we? Where do we come from? Where are we going?"
The work of P. Gauguin of this period (meaning the artist’s first visit to Tahiti) seems a wonderful fairy tale, which he experienced among the primitive, exotic nature of distant Polynesia. In the Mataye area, he finds a small village, buys himself a hut, on one side of which the ocean splashes, and on the other, a mountain with a huge crevice is visible. The Europeans had not yet reached here, and life seemed real to P. Gauguin earthly paradise. He submits to the slow rhythm of Tahitian life, absorbs the bright colors blue sea, occasionally covered with green waves crashing noisily on the coral reefs.
From the first days, the artist established simple, human relations with the Tahitians. The work begins to captivate P. Gauguin more and more. He makes numerous sketches and sketches from life, and in any case tries to capture them on canvas, paper or wood. characteristic faces Tahitians, their figures and poses - in the process of work or during rest. During this period, he created paintings that became world famous." Spirit of the Dead is awake”, “Oh, are you jealous?”, “Conversation”, “Tahitian pastorals”.
But if in 1891 the path to Tahiti seemed radiant to him (he was traveling here after some artistic victories in France), then the second time he went to his beloved island as a sick man who had lost most of his illusions. Everything along the way irritated him: forced stops, useless expenses, road inconveniences, customs quibbles, intrusive fellow travelers...
He had not been to Tahiti for only two years, and so much had changed here. The European raid destroyed the original life of the natives, everything seems to P. Gauguin an unbearable jumble: electric lighting in Papeete - the capital of the island, and unbearable carousels near the royal castle, and the sounds of a phonograph disturbing the former silence.
This time the artist stops in the Punoauia area, on the west coast of Tahiti, and builds a house on a rented plot of land overlooking the sea and mountains. Hoping to firmly establish himself on the island and create conditions for work, he spares no expense in organizing his home and soon, as is often the case, he is left without money. P. Gauguin counted on friends who, before the artist left France, borrowed a total of 4,000 francs from him, but they were in no hurry to return them. Despite the fact that he sent them numerous reminders of his duty, complained about his fate and extremely plight...
By the spring of 1896, the artist finds himself in the grip of the most severe need. Added to this is the pain in his broken leg, which becomes covered in ulcers and causes him unbearable suffering, depriving him of sleep and energy. The thought of the futility of efforts in the struggle for existence, of the failure of all artistic plans makes him think more and more often about suicide. But as soon as P. Gauguin feels the slightest relief, the artist’s nature takes over in him, and pessimism dissipates before the joy of life and creativity.
However, these were rare moments, and misfortunes followed one after another with catastrophic regularity. And the most terrible news for him was the news from France about the death of his beloved daughter Alina. Unable to survive the loss, P. Gauguin took a huge dose of arsenic and went into the mountains so that no one could stop him. The suicide attempt led to him spending the night in terrible agony, without any help and completely alone.
For a long time the artist was in complete prostration and could not hold a brush in his hands. His only consolation was a huge canvas (450 x 170 cm), painted by him before his suicide attempt. He called the painting "Where do we come from? Who are we? Where are we going?" and in one of his letters he wrote: “Before I died, I put into it all my energy, such a sorrowful passion in my terrible circumstances, and a vision so clear, without correction, that traces of haste disappeared and all life was visible in it.”
P. Gauguin worked on the painting in terrible tension, although he had been nurturing the idea for it in his imagination for a long time, he himself could not say exactly when the idea of this painting first arose. Individual fragments this monumental work written by him in different years and in other works. For example, the female figure from “Tahitian Pastorals” is repeated in this painting next to the idol, the central figure of a fruit picker was found in the golden sketch “A Man Picking Fruit from a Tree”...
Dreaming of expanding the possibilities of painting, Paul Gauguin sought to give his painting the character of a fresco. To this end, he leaves the two upper corners (one with the title of the painting, the other with the artist’s signature) yellow and not filled with painting - “like a fresco damaged at the corners and superimposed on a wall of gold.”
In the spring of 1898, he sent the painting to Paris, and in a letter to the critic A. Fontaine said that his goal was “not to create a complex chain of ingenious allegories that would need to be solved. On the contrary, the allegorical content of the painting is extremely simple - but not in the sense of an answer to the questions posed, but in the sense of the very formulation of these questions.” Paul Gauguin did not intend to answer the questions he put in the title of the painting, because he believed that they were and would be the most terrible and sweetest riddle for the human consciousness. Therefore, the essence of the allegories depicted on this canvas lies in the purely pictorial embodiment of this mystery hidden in nature, the sacred horror of immortality and the mystery of existence.
On his first visit to Tahiti, P. Gauguin looked at the world with the enthusiastic eyes of a big child-people, for whom the world had not yet lost its novelty and lush originality. To his childishly exalted gaze, colors invisible to others were revealed in nature: emerald grass, sapphire sky, amethyst sun shadow, ruby flowers and red gold of Maori skin. Tahitian paintings by P. Gauguin of this period glow with a noble golden glow, like the stained glass windows of Gothic cathedrals, and shimmer with regal splendor Byzantine mosaics, are fragrant with rich spills of colors.
The loneliness and deep despair that possessed him on his second visit to Tahiti forced P. Gauguin to see everything only in black. However, the master’s natural flair and his colorist’s eye did not allow the artist to completely lose his taste for life and its colors, although he created a gloomy canvas, painting it in a state of mystical horror.
So what does this picture actually contain? Like eastern manuscripts, which should be read from right to left, the content of the picture unfolds in the same direction: step by step, the course of human life is revealed - from its origin to death, which carries the fear of non-existence.
In front of the viewer, on a large, horizontally elongated canvas, is depicted the bank of a forest stream, in dark waters which reflects mysterious, indefinite shadows. On the other bank there is dense, lush tropical vegetation, emerald grasses, dense green bushes, strange blue trees, “growing as if not on earth, but in paradise.”
The tree trunks strangely twist and intertwine, forming a lacy network, through which in the distance one can see the sea with the white crests of coastal waves, a dark purple mountain on a neighboring island, blue sky- "a spectacle of virgin nature that could be paradise."
In the near shot of the picture, on the ground, free of any plants, a group of people is located around a stone statue of a deity. The characters are not united by any one event or general action, everyone is busy with their own things and immersed in themselves. The peace of the sleeping baby is guarded by a large black dog; "three women squatting, as if listening to themselves, frozen in anticipation of some unexpected joy. A young man standing in the center plucks a fruit from a tree with both hands... One figure, deliberately huge, contrary to the laws of perspective... raises his hand, looking in surprise at the two characters who dare to think about their fate."
Next to the statue, a lonely woman, as if mechanically, walks to the side, immersed in a state of intense, concentrated reflection. A bird is moving towards her on the ground. On the left side of the canvas, a child sitting on the ground brings a fruit to his mouth, a cat laps from a bowl... And the viewer asks himself: “What does all this mean?”
At first glance, it seems everyday life, but besides direct meaning, each image carries a poetic allegory, a hint of the possibility of figurative interpretation. For example, the motif of a forest stream or spring water gushing out of the ground is Gauguin’s favorite metaphor for the source of life, the mysterious beginning of existence. The sleeping baby represents the chastity of the dawn of human life. A young man picking a fruit from a tree and women sitting on the ground to the right embody the idea of the organic unity of man with nature, the naturalness of his existence in it.
A man with a raised hand, looking at his friends in surprise, is the first glimmer of concern, the initial impulse to comprehend the secrets of the world and existence. Others reveal the audacity and suffering of the human mind, the mystery and tragedy of the spirit, which are contained in the inevitability of man’s knowledge of his mortal destiny, the brevity of earthly existence and the inevitability of the end.
Paul Gauguin himself gave many explanations, but he warned against the desire to see generally accepted symbols in his painting, to decipher the images too straightforwardly, and even more so to look for answers. Some art critics believe that the artist’s depressed state, which led him to attempt suicide, was expressed in a strict, laconic artistic language. They note that the picture is overloaded small details, which do not clarify the general concept, but only confuse the viewer. Even the explanations in the master’s letters cannot dispel the mystical fog that he put into these details.
P. Gauguin himself regarded his work as spiritual testament, perhaps that is why the painting became a pictorial poem, in which concrete images were transformed into a sublime idea, and matter into spirit. The plot of the canvas is dominated by a poetic mood, rich in subtle shades and inner meaning. However, the mood of peace and grace is already shrouded in a vague anxiety of contact with the mysterious world, giving rise to a feeling of hidden anxiety, the painful unsolvability of the hidden mysteries of existence, the mystery of a person’s coming into the world and the mystery of his disappearance. In the picture, happiness is darkened by suffering, spiritual torment is washed by the sweetness of physical existence - “golden horror, covered with joy.” Everything is inseparable, just like in life.
P. Gauguin deliberately does not correct incorrect proportions, striving at all costs to preserve his sketch style. He valued this sketchiness and unfinishedness especially highly, believing that it is precisely this that brings a living stream into the canvas and imparts to the picture a special poetry that is not characteristic of things that are finished and overly finished.
"Still life"
"Jacob Wrestling with the Angel" 1888
"Loss of virginity"
"Mysterious Spring" (Pape moe)
"The Birth of Christ the Son of God (Te tamari no atua)"
"Yellow Christ"
"Month of Mary"
"Woman Holding a Fruit" 1893
“Cafe in Arles”, 1888, Pushkin Museum, Moscow
"The King's Wife" 1896
"Yellow Christ"
"White horse"
"Idol" 1898 Hermitage
"Dream" (Te rerioa)
"Poimes barbares (Barbarian poems)"
"Good afternoon, Mr. Gauguin"
"Self-portrait" approx. 1890-1899
"Self-Portrait with Palette" Private collection 1894
"Self-Portrait" 1896
"Self-portrait on Calvary" 1896
“Bad luck has haunted me since childhood. I have never known happiness or joy, only misfortune. And I exclaim: “Lord, if you exist, I accuse you of injustice and cruelty,” wrote Paul Gauguin, creating his most famous painting “Where do we come from? Who are we? Where are we going?". After writing which, he attempted suicide. Indeed, it was as if some kind of inexorable evil fate had been hanging over him all his life.
Stockbroker
It all started simply: he quit his job. Stockbroker Paul Gauguin was tired of all this fuss. Moreover, in 1884, Paris plunged into a financial crisis. Several failed deals, a couple of high-profile scandals - and now Gauguin is on the street.
However, he had long been looking for a reason to plunge headlong into painting. Turn this old hobby into a profession.
Of course, it was a complete gamble. Firstly, Gauguin was far from creative maturity. Secondly, newfangled the impressionist paintings he painted were not in the slightest demand among the public. Therefore, it is natural that after a year of his artistic “career” Gauguin was already thoroughly impoverished.
In Paris it's worth Cold winter 1885-86, his wife and children went to their parents in Copenhagen, Gauguin was starving. In order to somehow feed himself, he works for a pittance as a poster putter. “What really makes poverty terrible is that it interferes with work, and the mind comes to a dead end,” he later recalled. – This primarily applies to life in Paris and other big cities, where the struggle for a piece of bread takes three-quarters of your time and half of your energy.”
It was then that Gauguin had the idea to go somewhere to warm countries, life in which seemed to him to be surrounded by a romantic aura of pristine beauty, purity and freedom. In addition, he believed that there would be almost no need to earn bread.
Paradise islands
In May 1889, while wandering around the huge World Exhibition in Paris, Gauguin finds himself in a hall filled with examples of oriental sculpture. He examines the ethnographic exhibition and watches ritual dances performed by graceful Indonesian women. And with renewed vigor the idea of moving away lights up in him. Somewhere further from Europe, to warmer climes. In one of his letters from that time we read: “The whole East and the deep philosophy imprinted in golden letters in its art, all this deserves study, and I believe that I will find new strength there. The modern West is rotten, but a man of Herculean disposition can, like Antaeus, draw fresh energy by touching the soil there.”
The choice fell on Tahiti. The official guide to the island published by the Ministry of Colonies depicted paradise life. Inspired by the reference book, Gauguin, in one of his letters from that time, says: “Soon I am leaving for Tahiti, a small island in the South Seas, where you can live without money. I am determined to forget my miserable past, write freely as I please, without thinking about fame, and in the end die there, forgotten by everyone here in Europe.”
One after another, he sends petitions to government authorities, wanting to receive an “official mission”: “I want,” he wrote to the Minister of Colonies, “to go to Tahiti and paint a number of paintings in this region, the spirit and colors of which I consider it my task to perpetuate.” And in the end he received this “official mission”. The mission provided discounts on expensive travel to nearby Tahiti. But only.
The auditor is coming to see us!
However, no, not only that. The governor of the island received a letter from the Colonial Office regarding the "official mission". As a result, at first Gauguin was given a very good reception there. Local officials even suspected at first that he was not an artist at all, but an inspector from the metropolis hiding under the mask of an artist. He was even accepted as a member of the Circle Militaire, men's club for the elite, where usually only officers and senior officials were taken.
But all this Pacific Gogolism did not last long. Gauguin failed to maintain this first impression. According to contemporaries, one of the main traits of his character was a certain strange arrogance. He often seemed arrogant, arrogant and narcissistic.
Biographers believe that the reason for this self-confidence was an unshakable belief in his talent and calling. Firm belief that he is a great artist. On the one hand, this faith always allowed him to be an optimist and to withstand the most difficult trials. But this same faith was also the cause of numerous conflicts. Gauguin often made enemies for himself. And this is exactly what began to happen to him soon after his arrival in Tahiti.
In addition, it quickly became clear that as an artist he was very unique. The first portrait commissioned from him made a terrible impression. The catch was that Gauguin, wanting not to scare people away, tried to be simpler, that is, he worked in a purely realistic manner, and therefore gave the customer’s nose a natural red color. The customer considered it a mocking caricature, hid the painting in the attic, and a rumor spread throughout the city that Gauguin had neither tact nor talent. Naturally, after this, none of the wealthy residents of the Tahitian capital wanted to become his new “victim.” But he did big bet for portraits. He hoped that this would become his main source of income.
Disappointed Gauguin wrote: “It was Europe - the Europe from which I left, only even worse, with colonial snobbery and grotesque imitation of our customs, fashions, vices and follies, grotesque to the point of caricature.”
Fruits of civilization
After the incident with the portrait, Gauguin decided to leave the city as soon as possible and finally do what he had traveled half the globe for: to study and paint real, unspoiled savages. The fact is that Papeete, the capital of Tahiti, extremely disappointed Gauguin. In fact, he was a hundred years late here. Missionaries, traders and other representatives of civilization had long since done their disgusting work: instead of a beautiful village with picturesque huts, Gauguin was met with rows of shops and taverns, as well as ugly, unplastered brick houses. The Polynesians did not at all resemble the naked Eves and wild Hercules that Gauguin imagined. They have already been properly civilized.
All this became a serious disappointment for Coquet (as the Tahitians called Gauguin). And when he learned that if he left the capital, he could still be found on the outskirts of the island old life, he, of course, began to strive to do this.
However, the departure did not take place immediately; Gauguin was prevented by an unforeseen circumstance: illness. Very severe hemorrhage and heart pain. All symptoms pointed to syphilis in the second stage. The second stage meant that Gauguin became infected many years ago, back in France. And here, in Tahiti, the course of the disease was only accelerated by the stormy and far from healthy life that he began to lead. And, it must be said that, having spat with the bureaucratic elite, he completely plunged into popular entertainment: he regularly attended parties of reckless Tahitians and the so-called, where he could always find a beauty for an hour without any problems. At the same time, of course, for Gauguin, communication with the natives was, first of all, an excellent opportunity to observe and sketch everything new that he saw.
A stay in the hospital cost Gauguin 12 francs a day, the money melted like ice in the tropics. In Papeete, the cost of living was generally higher than in Paris. And Gauguin loved to live large. All the money brought from France was gone. No new income was expected.
In search of savages
Once in Papeete, Gauguin met one of the regional leaders of Tahiti. The leader was distinguished by rare loyalty to the French and spoke their language fluently. Having received an invitation to live in the region of Tahiti subordinate to his new friend, Gauguin happily agreed. And he was right: it was one of the most beautiful areas of the island.
Gauguin settled in an ordinary Tahitian hut made of bamboo, with a leafy roof. At first he was happy and painted two dozen paintings: “It was so easy to paint things the way I saw them, to put red paint next to blue without deliberate calculation. I was fascinated by golden figures in rivers or on the seashore. What prevented me from conveying this triumph of the sun on canvas? Only an ingrained European tradition. Only the shackles of fear inherent in a degenerate people!”
Unfortunately, such happiness could not last long. The leader did not intend to take the artist on board, and it was impossible for a European who did not own land and did not know Tahitian agriculture to feed himself in these parts. He could neither hunt nor fish. And even if he learned over time, all his time would be spent on this - he would simply have no time to write.
Gauguin found himself in a financial impasse. There really wasn't enough money for anything. As a result, he was forced to ask to be sent home at government expense. True, while the petition was traveling from Tahiti to France, life seemed to be getting better: Gauguin managed to receive some orders for portraits, and also acquired a wife - a fourteen-year-old Tahitian named Teha'amana.
“I started working again and my home became a place of happiness. In the mornings, when the sun rose, my home was filled with bright light. Teha'amana's face shone like gold, illuminating everything around, and we went to the river and swam together, simply and naturally, as in the Gardens of Eden. I no longer distinguished between good and evil. Everything was perfect, everything was wonderful."
Complete failure
What followed was poverty interspersed with happiness, hunger, exacerbation of the disease, despair and occasional financial support from the sale of paintings at home. With great difficulty, Gauguin returned to France in order to organize a large solo exhibition. Until the very last moment he was sure that triumph awaited him. After all, he brought several dozen truly revolutionary paintings from Tahiti - no artist had ever painted like this before. “Now I will find out whether it was madness on my part to go to Tahiti.”
And what? Indifferent, contemptuous faces of perplexed ordinary people. Complete failure. He left for distant lands when mediocrity refused to recognize his genius. And he hoped upon his return to appear in full height, in all his greatness. Let my flight be a defeat, he told himself, but my return will be a victory. Instead, his return only dealt him another crushing blow.
The newspapers called Gauguin's paintings "fabrications of a sick brain, an outrage against Art and Nature." “If you want to amuse your children, send them to the Gauguin exhibition,” the journalists wrote.
Gauguin's friends tried their best to persuade him not to give in to his natural impulse and not to immediately go back to the South Seas. But in vain. “Nothing will stop me from leaving, and I will stay there forever. Life in Europe - what idiocy!” He seemed to have forgotten about all the hardships that he had recently experienced in Tahiti. “If everything goes well, I will leave in February. And then I will be able to end my days as a free man, peacefully, without anxiety for the future, and no longer have to fight with idiots... I will not write, except perhaps for my own pleasure. I will have a wooden carved house.”
Invisible Enemy
In 1895, Gauguin went to Tahiti again and settled in the capital again. Actually, this time he was going to the Marquesas Islands, where he hoped to find a simpler and easier life. But he was tormented by the same untreated illness, and he chose Tahiti, where at least there was a hospital.
Illness, poverty, lack of recognition, these three components evil fate hung over Gauguin. No one wanted to buy the paintings left for sale in Paris, and in Tahiti no one needed him at all.
He was finally broken by the news of sudden death his nineteen-year-old daughter, perhaps the only creature on earth that he truly loved. “I was so used to constant misfortune that at first I didn’t feel anything,” Gauguin wrote. “But gradually my brain came to life, and every day the pain penetrated deeper, so that now I am completely killed. Honestly, you would think that somewhere in the transcendental realms I have an enemy who has decided not to give me a minute of peace.”
My health deteriorated at the same rate as my finances. The ulcers spread throughout the affected leg, and then spread to the second leg. Gauguin rubbed arsenic into them and wrapped his legs in bandages up to his knees, but the disease progressed. Then his eyes suddenly became inflamed. True, the doctors assured that it was not dangerous, but he could not write in such a state. They just treated his eyes - his leg hurt so bad that he couldn’t step on it and fell ill. The painkillers made him dull. If he tried to get up, he began to feel dizzy and he lost consciousness. At times the temperature rose. “Bad luck has haunted me since childhood. I have never known happiness or joy, only misfortune. And I exclaim: “Lord, if you exist, I accuse you of injustice and cruelty.” You see, after the news of the death of poor Alina, I could no longer believe in anything, I just laughed bitterly. What is the use of virtues, work, courage and intelligence?
People tried not to approach his house, thinking that he not only had syphilis, but also incurable leprosy (although this was not the case). On top of that, he began to suffer from severe heart attacks. He suffered from suffocation and was coughing up blood. It seemed that he really was subject to some kind of terrible curse.
At this time, in between attacks of dizziness and unbearable pain, a picture was slowly created that his descendants called his spiritual testament, the legendary “Where are we from? Who are we? Where are we going?".
Life after death
The seriousness of Gauguin's intentions is evidenced by the fact that the dose of arsenic he took was simply lethal. He really was going to commit suicide.
He took refuge in the mountains and swallowed the powder.
But it was precisely the too large dose that helped him survive: his body refused to accept it, and the artist vomited. Exhausted, Gauguin fell asleep, and when he woke up, he somehow crawled home.
Gauguin prayed to God for death. But instead, the disease receded.
He decided to build a large and comfortable house. And, continuing to hope that Parisians would soon begin to buy his paintings, he took out a very large loan. And in order to pay off his debts, he got a tedious job as a petty official. He made copies of drawings and plans and inspected roads. This work was dull and did not allow me to paint.
Everything changed suddenly. It was as if somewhere in heaven a dam of bad luck suddenly broke. Suddenly he receives 1000 francs from Paris (some of the paintings were finally sold), pays off part of the debt and leaves the service. Suddenly he finds himself as a journalist and, working in a local newspaper, achieves quite tangible results in this field: by playing on the political opposition of two local parties, he improves his financial affairs and regains the respect of local residents. There was nothing particularly joyful about it, however. After all, Gauguin still saw his calling in painting. And because of journalism, the great artist was torn from the canvas for two years.
But suddenly a man appeared in his life who managed to sell his paintings well and thereby literally saved Gauguin, allowing him to go back to his business. His name was Ambroise Vollard. In exchange for the guaranteed right to purchase, without looking, at least twenty-five paintings a year for two hundred francs each, Vollard began to pay Gauguin a monthly advance of three hundred francs. And also at your own expense to supply the artist with all the necessary materials. Gauguin dreamed of such an agreement all his life.
Having finally received financial freedom, Gauguin decided to fulfill his old dream and move to the Marquesas Islands.
It seemed that all the bad things were over. On the Marquesas Islands, he built a new house (naming it nothing less than “The Fun House”) and lived the way he had long wanted to live. Koke writes a lot, and spends the rest of the time in friendly feasts in the cool dining room of his “Fun Home”.
However, the happiness was short-lived: local residents dragged the “famous journalist” into political intrigue, problems began with the authorities, and as a result, he made many enemies for himself here too. And Gauguin’s illness, which had been subdued, knocked on the door again: severe pain in his leg, heart failure, weakness. He stopped leaving the house. Soon the pain became unbearable, and Gauguin once again had to resort to morphine. When he increased the dose to a dangerous limit, then, fearing poisoning, he switched to opium tincture, which made him sleepy all the time. He sat in the workshop for hours and played the harmonium. And the few listeners, gathered around these painful sounds, could not hold back their tears.
When he died, there was an empty bottle of opium tincture on the bedside table. Perhaps Gauguin, accidentally or intentionally, took an excessively large dose.
Three weeks after his funeral, the local bishop (and one of Gauguin's enemies) sent a letter to his superiors in Paris: "The only noteworthy event here was the sudden death of an unworthy man named Gauguin, who was a famous artist, but an enemy of God and all that is decent."
Paul Gauguin was born in 1848 in Paris on June 7. His father was a journalist. After the revolutionary upheavals in France, the father of the future artist gathered his whole family and went to Peru by ship, intending to stay with the parents of his wife Alina and open his own magazine there. But on the way he had a heart attack and died.
Paul Gauguin lived in Peru until he was seven years old. Returning to France, the Gauguin family settled in Orleans. But Paul was completely uninterested in living in the provinces and was bored. At the first opportunity he left the house. In 1865, he hired himself as a worker on a merchant ship. Time passed, and the number of countries visiting the Field increased. Over the course of several years, Paul Gauguin became a real sailor who was in various troubles at sea. Having entered service in the French navy, Paul Gauguin continued to surf the seas and oceans.
After the death of his mother, Paul left the maritime business and took up work at the stock exchange, which his guardian helped him find. The work was good and it seemed that he would work there for a long time.
Marriage of Paul Gauguin
Gauguin married the Danish Matt-Sophie Gad in 1873. During 10 years of marriage, his wife gave birth to five children, and Gauguin’s position in society became stronger. In his free time from work, Gauguin indulged in his favorite hobby - painting.
Gauguin was not at all confident in his artistic forces. One day, one of Paul Gauguin's paintings was selected for display at an exhibition, but he did not tell anyone from the family about it.
In 1882, a stock exchange crisis began in the country, and Gauguin's further successful work began to be doubted. It was this fact that helped determine Gauguin’s fate as an artist.
By 1884 Gauguin was already living in Denmark, since there was not enough money to live in France. Gauguin's wife taught French in Denmark, and he tried to engage in trade, but nothing worked out for him. Disagreements began in the family, and the marriage broke up in 1885. The mother remained with 4 children in Denmark, and Gauguin returned to Paris with his son Clovis.
Living in Paris was difficult, and Gauguin had to move to Brittany. He liked it here. The Bretons are a very unique people with their own traditions and worldview, and even their own language. Gauguin felt great in Brittany; his feelings as a traveler awoke again.
In 1887, taking the artist Charles Laval with them, they went to Panama. The trip was not very successful. Gauguin had to work hard to support himself. Having fallen ill with malaria and dysentery, Paul had to return to his homeland. Friends accepted him and helped him recover, and already in 1888 Paul Gauguin moved to Brittany again.
The case of Van Gogh
Gauguin knew Van Gogh, who wanted to organize an artists' colony in Arles. It was there that he invited his friend. All financial expenses were borne by Van Gogh's brother Theo (we mentioned this case in). For Gauguin, this was a good opportunity to escape and live without any worries. The artists' views differed. Gauguin began to guide Van Gogh and began to present himself as a teacher. Van Gogh, who was already suffering from a psychological disorder at that time, could not endure this. At some point he attacked Paul Gauguin with a knife. Without overtaking his victim, Van Gogh cut off his ear, and Gauguin went back to Paris.
After this incident, Paul Gauguin spent time traveling between Paris and Brittany. And in 1889, after visiting an art exhibition in Paris, he decided to settle in Tahiti. Naturally, Gauguin had no money, and he began to sell his paintings. Having saved about 10 thousand francs, he went to the island.
In the summer of 1891, Paul Gauguin set to work, buying a small thatched hut on the island. Many paintings from this time depict Gauguin's wife Tehura, who was only 13 years old. Her parents happily gave her to Gauguin as his wife. The work was fruitful, Gauguin wrote a lot interesting paintings to Tahiti. But time passed, and the money ran out, and Gauguin fell ill with syphilis. He could stand it no longer and left for France, where a small inheritance awaited him. But he didn’t spend much time in his homeland. In 1895, he returned to Tahiti again, where he also lived in poverty and destitution.
Details Category: Fine arts and architecture of the 19th century Published 08/03/2017 15:08 Views: 1205Gauguin was not professional artist, he began painting as an amateur. However, he later became the largest representative of post-impressionism.
P. Gauguin “Van Gogh and Sunflowers” (1888)
A childhood spent in Peru gave Gauguin a craving for exotic places. The artist considered civilization to be a disease. He wanted to merge with nature, so in 1891 he left for Tahiti (French Polynesia) and wrote a lot here. Short-term, for 2 years, return to France, and again departure (forever) to Oceania: first to Tahiti, and from 1901 to the island of Hiva Oa (Marquesas Islands). Here he marries a young Tahitian woman and works: he writes his best paintings, stories, and works as a journalist. Observations on real life and the life of the peoples of Oceania, he intertwines with local myths.
This is where Paul Gauguin died in 1903.
Works of Paul Gauguin
Fame came to Gauguin after his death. Let's look at some of his works.
P. Gauguin “Breton Calvary” (“Green Christ”) (1889). Canvas, oil. 73.5 x 92 cm. Royal Museum fine arts(Brussels)
In the vicinity of Pont-Aven, Gauguin often saw ancient stone crucifixes. They were covered with moss. The painting was created by him under the impression of these ancient idols.
P. Gauguin “Woman with a Flower” (1891). Canvas, oil. 70.5 x 46.5 cm. New glyptotek Carlsberg (Copenhagen)
This painting was created by an artist in Tahiti - the first of the paintings of the Tahitian cycle. He himself described the history of its creation. The woman is Gauguin’s neighbor, she came to him, interested in the paintings on the wall (reproductions from paintings by Manet and other artists). He took advantage of this visit to sketch a portrait of a Tahitian woman, but she ran away. An hour later she returned dressed in elegant dress and with a flower in her hair. She did not meet European standards, but in her features Gauguin saw Raphaelian harmony.
The yellow and red background of the portrait is decorated with stylized flowers. The flower in the woman's hair is a Tahitian gardenia. This flower is also used to make perfume.
P. Gauguin “The spirit of the dead does not sleep” (1892). Canvas, oil. 72.4 x 92.4 cm. Albright-Knox Art Gallery (Buffalo, New York)
The painting is also from the Tahitian cycle. Mixing fiction with reality was characteristic of the Tahitian culture. The Young Girl is based on Tehura, Gauguin's young Tahitian wife. The spirit is depicted as an ordinary woman. The gloomy purple background of the painting creates a mystical atmosphere.
The canvas was created as a result real event: Gauguin was delayed on his way until dark. Tehura was waiting for him, but the oil in the lamp ran out, and she lay in the dark. Entering the house, he struck a match, which greatly frightened her: she mistook him for a ghost. Tahitians were very afraid of ghosts. Gauguin depicted the ghost in the form of an ordinary woman, because... Tahitians who had not read books and had not been to the theater could take their idea of them only from real life.
P. Gauguin “Oh, are you jealous?” (1892). Canvas, oil. 66 x 89 cm. State Museum fine arts them. A.S. Pushkin (Moscow)
The painting was painted during the Polynesian period of Gauguin's work. It is based on a scene from life, which he later described in the book “Noa Noa”: “There are two sisters on the shore. They have just swam, and now their bodies are stretched out on the sand in casual, voluptuous poses - talking about the love of yesterday and the one that will come tomorrow. One memory causes discord: “How? Are you jealous!"
P. Gauguin “Woman Holding a Fruit” (1893). Canvas, oil. 92.5 x 73.5 cm. State Hermitage Museum (St. Petersburg)
The painting depicts a Tahitian village. Two simple grass-roofed huts are visible. In the foreground of the painting is a young Tahitian woman holding a lemon-green mango in her hands. Her face is serious and expressive, her gaze is attentive. It is believed that she served as a model for young wife Gauguin, Tahitian Tehura.
The Tahitian landscape is shown in a general way: in the picture there are no sun rays or air vibrations, but the heat of the tropical sun is felt in the color of the woman’s skin, and in the blue of the sky, and in the stillness of the branches. The woman seems integral part nature.
P. Gauguin “Never Again” (1897). Canvas, oil. Courtauld Institute of Art (London)
The painting is one of famous paintings Paul Gauguin, written in Tahiti.
A naked Tahitian girl lies on a rich bed. She seems to be listening intently to something. Visible in the background doorway, and in it there are two people talking. Nearby is a black bird that looks like a raven.
The color scheme of the picture is gloomy, so the picture is alarming. And the woman lying on the bed looks alarmed: she is looking either at the raven or at those talking in the next room. Thick brushstrokes, bright, expressive colors anticipate expressionism.
P. Gauguin “Where did we come from? Who are we? Where are we going?" (1897-1898). Canvas, oil. 131.1 x 374.6 cm. Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, USA)
This is one of the most famous paintings by Paul Gauguin. The artist considered this work to be the sublime culmination of his thoughts.
After completing this painting, Gauguin decided to commit suicide. Gauguin arrived in Tahiti in 1891 in the hope of finding a paradise on earth, untouched by civilization, where he could return to the basics primitive art. But reality disappointed him.
He indicated that the painting should be read from right to left: three main groups of figures illustrate the questions posed in the title. Three women with a child represent the beginning of life; the middle group symbolizes the daily existence of maturity; in the final group, according to the artist’s plan, “ old woman, approaching death, seems reconciled and given over to her thoughts,” at her feet “a strange white bird... represents the futility of words.” The blue idol in the background represents " other world" About the completeness of the painting, he said the following: “I believe that this painting not only surpasses all my previous ones, and that I will never create something better or even similar.”
The painting was made in a post-impressionist style. The clear use of paints and thick strokes still illustrates the principles of impressionism, but the emotionality and power of expressionism is also already evident.
1848-1903: between these numbers is the whole life of the greatest, great, brilliant painter Paul Gauguin.
“The only way to become God is to do as He does: create.”
Paul Gauguin
in the photo: a fragment of the painting Paul Gauguin"Self-Portrait with Palette", 1894
Details of life Paul Gauguin formed one of the most unusual biographies in the history of art. His life really gave reasons for different people to talk about it, admire it, laugh, be indignant and kneel.
Paul Gauguin: early years
Paul Eugene Henri Gauguin born in Paris on June 7, 1848 in the family of journalist Clovis Gauguin, a convinced radical. After the defeat of the June uprising, the family Gauguin for security reasons, she was forced to move to relatives in Peru, where Clovis intended to publish his own magazine. But on the way to South America, the journalist died of a heart attack, leaving his wife with two small children. We must pay tribute to the mental fortitude of the artist’s mother, who raised her children alone, without complaint.
A shining example of courage in a family environment Fields There was also his grandmother Flora Tristan, one of the first socialist and feminist in the country, who published the autobiographical book “The Wanderings of a Pariah” in 1838. From her Paul Gauguin inherited not only external resemblance, but also her character, her temperament, indifference to public opinion and a love of travel.
Memories of living with relatives in Peru were so precious Gauguin that he later called himself a “Peruvian savage.” At first, nothing foreshadowed his fate as a great artist. After 6 years of living in Peru, the family returned to France. But gray provincial life in Orleans and studying in a Parisian boarding school tired Gauguin, and at the age of 17, against the wishes of his mother, he enlisted in the French merchant fleet and visited Brazil, Chile, Peru, and then off the coast of Denmark and Norway. This was the first, by generally accepted standards, disgrace that Paul brought it to my family. The mother, who died during his voyage, did not forgive her son and, as punishment, deprived him of all inheritance. Returning to Paris in 1871, Gauguin with the help of his guardian Gustave Aroz, a friend of his mother, he received a position as a broker in one of the most reputable stock exchange firms in the capital. Field was 23 years old, and before him was opening brilliant career. He started a family quite early and became an exemplary father of the family (he had 5 children).
"Family in the Garden" Paul Gauguin, 1881, oil on canvas, New Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen
Painting as a hobby
But your stable well-being Gauguin without hesitation he sacrificed himself to his passion—painting. Write with paints Gauguin started in the 1870s. At first it was a Sunday hobby, and Paul he modestly assessed his capabilities, and his family considered his passion for painting to be a cute eccentricity. Through Gustave Aroz, who loved art and collected paintings, Paul Gauguin met several impressionists, enthusiastically accepting their ideas.
After participating in 5 impressionist exhibitions the name Gauguin sounded in artistic circles: the artist was already shining through the Parisian broker. AND Gauguin decided to devote himself entirely to painting, and not to be, as he put it, a “Sunday artist.” The choice in favor of art was also facilitated by the stock exchange crisis of 1882, which crippled the financial situation Gauguin. But the financial crisis also affected painting: the paintings were poorly sold, and family life Gauguin turned into a struggle for survival. Moving to Rouen, and later to Copenhagen, where the artist sold canvas products and his wife gave French lessons, did not save him from poverty, and marriage Gauguin fell apart. Gauguin and his youngest son returned to Paris, where he found neither peace of mind nor well-being. To feed his son, the great artist was forced to earn money by posting posters. “I learned real poverty,” he wrote Gauguin in “Notebook for Alina,” his beloved daughter. - It is true that, despite everything, suffering sharpens talent. However, there shouldn’t be too much of it, otherwise it will kill you.”
"Flowers and Japanese Book" Paul Gauguin, 1882, oil on wood, New Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen
Formation of your own style
For painting Gauguin it was a turning point. The artist’s school was impressionism, which reached its peak at that time, and his teacher was Camille Pissarro, one of the founders of impressionism. Name of the patriarch of impressionism Camille Pissarro allowed Gauguin take part in five of the eight Impressionist exhibitions between 1874 and 1886.
"Waterhole" Paul Gauguin, 1885, oil on canvas, private collection
In the mid-1880s, the crisis of impressionism began, and Paul Gauguin began to look for his path in art. A trip to picturesque Brittany, which preserved its ancient traditions, marked the beginning of changes in the artist’s work: he moved away from impressionism and developed his own style, combining elements of Breton culture with a radically simplified style of painting—synthetism. This style is characterized by a simplification of the image, conveyed in bright, unusually shining colors, and deliberately excessive decorativeness.
Synthetism appeared and manifested itself around 1888 in the works of other artists of the Pont-Aven school— Emile Bernard, Louis Anquetin, Paul Sérusier etc. A feature of the synthetic style was the desire of artists to “synthesize” the visible and imaginary worlds, and often what was created on the canvas was a memory of what was once seen. As a new movement in art, synthetism gained fame after the organized Gauguin exhibition at the Parisian Café Volpini in 1889. New ideas Gauguin become aesthetic concept the famous group "Nabi", from which a new one grew artistic movement"Art Nouveau".
"Vision after the Sermon (Jacob's Wrestling with the Angel)" Paul Gauguin, 1888, oil on canvas, 74.4 x 93.1 cm., National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
The art of ancient peoples as a source of inspiration for European painting
The crisis of impressionism confronted artists who abandoned blind “imitation of nature” with the need to find new sources of inspiration. The art of ancient peoples became a truly inexhaustible source of inspiration for European painting and had a strong influence on its development.
Paul Gauguin's style
Phrase from the letter Gauguin“You can always find solace in the primitive” indicates his keen interest in primitive art. Style Gauguin, harmoniously combining impressionism, symbolism, Japanese graphics and children's illustration, was perfect for depicting “uncivilized” peoples. If the impressionists, each in their own way, sought to analyze the colorful world, conveying reality without a special psychological and philosophical basis, then Gauguin didn't just offer virtuoso technique, he reflected in art:
“For me, a great artist is the formula of the greatest intelligence.”
His paintings are full of harmonious metaphors with complex meanings, often permeated with pagan mysticism. The figures of people that he painted from life acquired a symbolic, philosophical meaning. The artist conveyed the mood through color relationships, state of mind, thoughts: yes, pink color the earth in the paintings is a symbol of joy and abundance.
"Day of the Deity (Mahana no Natua)" Paul Gauguin, 1894, oil on canvas, Art Institute of Chicago, USA
A dreamer by nature Paul Gauguin All his life he was looking for heaven on earth in order to capture it in his works. I looked for it in Brittany, Martinique, Tahiti, and the Marquesas Islands. Three trips to Tahiti (in 1891, 1893 and 1895), where the artist painted a number of his famous works, brought disappointment: the primitiveness of the island was lost. Diseases introduced by Europeans reduced the population of the island from 70 to 7 thousand, and along with the islanders, their rituals, art and local crafts died out. In the picture Gauguin“Girl with a Flower” reveals the duality of the cultural structure on the island at that time: this is eloquently evidenced by the girl’s European dress.
"Girl with a Flower" Paul Gauguin
In my search for something new and unique artistic language Gauguin was not alone: the desire for change in art united dissimilar and original artists ( Seurat, Signac, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Toulouse-Lautrec, Bonnard and others), giving birth to a new movement—post-impressionism. Despite the fundamental dissimilarity of styles and handwriting, in the work of the Post-Impressionists one can trace not only ideological unity, but also commonality in everyday life—as a rule, loneliness and the tragedy of life situations. The public did not understand them, and they did not always understand each other. In reviews of an exhibition of paintings Gauguin, brought from Tahiti, one could read:
“To entertain your children, send them to an exhibition Gauguin. They will amuse themselves in front of painted pictures depicting four-armed female creatures stretched out on a billiard table...”
After such derogatory criticism Paul Gauguin did not stay in his homeland and in 1895 again, and already in last time, went to Tahiti. In 1901, the artist moved to Domenic Island (Marquesas Islands), where he died of a heart attack on May 8, 1903. Paul Gauguin was buried in the local Catholic cemetery of Domenic Island (Hiva Oa).
"Riders on the Coast" Paul Gauguin, 1902
Even after the artist's death, the French authorities in Tahiti, who persecuted him during his lifetime, mercilessly dealt with his artistic heritage. Ignorant officials sold his paintings, sculptures, and wooden reliefs under the hammer for pennies. The gendarme conducting the auction broke a carved cane in front of the crowd. Gauguin, but hid his paintings and, returning to Europe, opened the artist’s museum. Recognition came to Gauguin 3 years after his death, when 227 of his works were exhibited in Paris. The French press, which had angrily ridiculed the artist during his lifetime regarding each of his few exhibitions, began to publish laudatory odes to his art. Articles, books and memoirs were written about him.
"When is the wedding?", Paul Gauguin, 1892, oil on canvas, Basel, Switzerland (until 2015)
Once in a letter to Paul Sérusier Gauguin he suggested with despair: “...my paintings scare me. The public will never accept them." However, the paintings Gauguin the public accepts it and buys it for a lot of money. For example, in 2015, an unnamed buyer from Qatar (according to the IMF, the richest country in the world since 2010) bought a painting Gauguin“When is the wedding?”, for 300 million dollars. Painting Gauguin received the honorary status of the most expensive painting in the world.
To be fair, it should be noted that Gauguin did not care at all about the lack of public interest in his work. He was convinced: “Everyone should follow their passion. I know that people will understand me less and less. But can this really matter? Entire life Paul Gauguin was a fight against philistinism and prejudice. He always lost, but thanks to his obsession, he never gave up. The love for art that lived in his indomitable heart became guiding star for the artists who followed in his footsteps.