Paul Gauguin
(7 June 1848 - 8 May 1903) |
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bold color, animal totems, geometric forms Art Work
| Name: |
Paul Gauguin |
| Gender: |
Male |
| Place of Birth: |
Paris, France |
| Nationality: |
French |
| Birth: |
7 June 1848 |
| Death: |
8 May 1903 |
| Website: |
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| Past Auctions: |
Click Here |
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Quick Facts
| Known For: |
bold color, animal totems, geometric forms |
| Medium: |
oil painting |
| Method: |
oil painting, etching, engraving |
| Style: |
Post Impressionism, Primitivism |
| Fine Art Profession(s): |
Painter
Engraver
Printmaker |
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Biography
| Paul Gauguin was born in Paris, however, his rejection of western culture was infamous and continues to be today. His style goes threw many changes threw to course of his life, from the realism of the Barbizon School, to the Symbolist, Post-Impressionist style that gives power to form, color, and the imagination. His influences included Japanese prints, the native religion of the South Seas, and a number of other painters from exotic cultures. He wanted his art to deal with the questions of everyday life threw meditation and daydreams. After living in Peru from 1851 to 1855 and then serving in the French Navy from 1865 to 1871, Gauguin took up painting as a hobby. He began attending night classes at the Academie Colarossi and, after becoming acquainted with Camille Pissarro, started his collection of Impressionist paintings. The salon finally excepted one of his landscapes in 1876, though afterward he continued to study Impressionist work with Pissarro. The 1880 to 1883 annual Impressionist exhibitions featured many of his paintings. Afterward, he left his job to become a professional painter and was forced to move to Rouen due to his lack of income (at this time, he had five children to support) and then moved again to Copenhagen. After finally taking a job in this new city, he had an exhibition of his work which was a total failure. Gauguin the returned to Paris with one of his sons and showed in the 1886 Impressionist exhibition. He was able to remain in Paris by selling off his collection of Impressionist work while he studied the making of ceramic sculpture. In April of 1887, Gauguin sailed to Panama to work on the canal, then moved on to Martinique. He was brought back to Paris by poverty and dysentery where, due to the influence of Bernard, his painting style had changed (as seen in Vision after the Sermon). Moving once again, he came to Arles to stay with fellow artist, Van Gogh. Known for being unstable, Van Gogh finally had a breakdown and Gauguin was forced to return to Paris. At the 1889 World's Fair, he was exposed to both Javanese and Indonesian art work and was very impressed. After traveling around to Brittany a few times, he returned to Paris again and became part of the Symbolist circle of writers and painters. The Symbolists threw a banquet in his honor, a few days later he left for Tahiti. Due to sickness and poverty, he returned to Paris where he failed in selling his Tahitian artwork. This brought him back to Tahiti where, again, he became impoverish and ill but, by 1897, things began to look up for a short time before falling ill again by the end of that year. In December and January of 1898, he even attempted suicide. Afterward, his luck changed somewhat and he got and job and even sold a number of his painting, though they were for a very low price. He almost ceased producing work all together due to a lack of materials. He finally died in May of 1903. |
Samples of Work
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