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an
he worked as a sailor in
in France,
traveling
settled
in Paris to
first
hi
an amateur
artist,
he took up painting
still
continued to paint,
and
to the subjects
and the
to give
styles of painting. In
search of themes and light and color, he traveled to Copenhagen, to the French province
of
Brittany,
to
the
Caribbean
island
of
O
O
O
o D
3
"D
c
s
CD
C/>
C/>
abandoned
dream
of
South
Pacific. There,
among
lush land-
memorable images
Though
adise for
life
is
54
is
Gauguin forged
was wholly
original
where anything
possible.
illu
par-
including 34,platt
> ocr
o
p*
K)
cr
in the history
was by no means a
ever.
some
Q>
26
rr\
*i
tti^B
FIRST IMPRESSI
Paul Ga
HOWARD GREENFELD
Harry
7
N. Abrams,
Inc..
Publishers
Greenfeld, Howard.
Paul Gauguin
p.
cm.
Howard
Greenfeld.
(First Impressions)
painter
1848-1903.
[1.
2. Artists.]
ND553.G27G75
759.4 dc20
I.
Title.
II.
Series.
1993
93-9454
CIP
[B]
AC
Text copyright
1993
Howard Greenfeld
Illustrations copyright
Harry N. Abrams,
1993
^B
Inc.
Abrams, Incorporated,
New
York
No part of
may be
the
bound
in
Hong Kong
Chapter One
Chapter Two
A Momentous Decision
Chapter Three
Early Struggles
22
Chapter Four
The
Decisive 'Years
32
Chapter Five
Exile
77
List of Illustrations
Index
92
90
50
15
Chapter One
of thirty-five,
made
who,
in Paris,
up everything
pursue a
years later, living as
at the
age
his
in order to
an outsider
in lonely exile
His story
ic
is
as exciting as
it is
is
little less
exot-
relentlessly
daring genius
who
hatred of hypocrisy. For others, he was vain and arrogant, stubborn, sometimes violent, and totally insensitive to the needs of his family and friends.
In fact, he
was
all
is
life
was
He was
artist
even when
must be
when
that
of
it
life.
was
possible, at
any time,
in
artistic
interests
to
who
change
gave every-
a significant influ-
like
love-
neither
art.
Paul Gauguin's eccentricities, his passion for the exotic, and his stub-
bornness can be traced to his ancestors. Flora Tristan, his maternal grandmother, was an extraordinary
woman. Born
in
who
life to
Her personal
was
a failure.
When
Soon
after her
mother's death, Aline married Clovis Gauguin. Eleven years older than his
came from
bride, Clovis
work
He had come
On
Gauguin, he was
to
be simply
known
1848,
7,
decided
ential
monarchy he and
would be best
it
to start a
this turmoil
newspaper of
his
to emigrate to
his
own
The family
in tragedy
left
8,
On October
Lima
ended
30, Clovis
filled
with
warmth and
was treated
fact,
it
was not
like
and radiated a
as a drab, sweet
fiery.
They were
where
it
on him
He never
life.
ly's
semitropical Peru,
life in
effect
tale.
where he would
sit
his fami-
molasses sucking on sugar cane, and the playful monkeys, Peru's most com-
mon
domestic animals.
came
to
as
and the
much
had
family's inheritance
to
it
was time
who was
be settled.
life
of luxury
school in their native country. Paul, seven years old at the time, didn't even
know
The return
to France, to Orleans,
the
in
gloomy
city of
warm, lush
was
first lived in
young
tropics. In
free to
order
life
he had led in
do as he pleased, while
girls
who
chil-
mother moved
to Paris,
make
where she
set
up shop
as a dressmaker.
She had
to
him
in her
new home.
and
in Paris, apparently
made
little
to study. Socially,
he did
little to
he was a
all
impres-
He was
so
failure, too.
He was unable
to
make
friends, since
came
to
an end.
Though
his grades
observer of the world around him. Arrogance, not ignorance, was his problem. At a time
tling
his age
to
were
To begin, he enlisted as an
and, in
December
Le Havre, France,
1865,
to
officer's
was assigned
become
in
a sailor.
and
set-
As a sailor he could
raised.
to a cargo ship
bound from
first
the port of
of several voy-
ages he took over the next few years; voyages, as he had hoped, to give him
a chance to explore the world.
charms
of the tropics,
Not
in India,
was only
will,
later,
It
his childhood.
had come
to
an end.
had died
he learned
in her
surprisingly, he
in St. Cloud,
was a tragedy
that affected
him
1867. She
7,
deeply. In her
well, suggesting
made himself so
(left)
(right)
seemed
ideally suited to
10
to be
one another.
dis-
liked by all
my
however, was not yet ready to get on with a serious career; there was more
of the world to be seen. In January' 1868, he left the
Two months
later,
For more than three years, the Jerome-Napoleon cruised the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, and the North Sea, making stops at London, Naples,
Corfu, the Dalmatian coast, Trieste, Venice, Bergen, and Copenhagen.
Gauguin grew
and the
Though those
it
was
Still
as
short as he had been throughout his childhood (he was barely five feet, four
inches
tall
when he
broad-shouldered young
a fight. His
life
man who
as a sailor
more independent.
In
become
to,
hold his
11
a powerfully built,
yet to
mature.
own
in
and be
He was
unable to decide
still
how
make use
to
of his abilities,
and
unable, at the
still
With
this in
his discharge.
legacy
fire,
the
paintings
at
lost not
left
him
a far
war with
only a
mother had
With that
St.
his
house had
home
more important
in
and
legacy, a wise
arts.
was a
would
become known
later
Delacroix (who
and several
who
artists
as the Impressionists.
Bertin.
The
clients,
job, acting as a
by
it.
became
proficient at
it.
their
sat-
It
was time
day's
was
quiet.
He was by nature
a rather solitary
to his
man
modest
Edgar Allan Poe and the French writers Charles Baudelaire and Honore de
Balzac.
He
On
liked to dance,
It
who
felt
it
life,
was
far different
in
from the
many ways
life
a lonely
life
for
Gauguin,
friends.
Emile Schuffenecker,
as he
hall.
life.
Schuff,
than Gauguin. Schuff was merely a poorly paid clerk, whose future did not
12
as Gauguin's did.
to
it
What drew
was
their
men
the two
common
together
enthusiasm for
drawing and painting, which for Schuff was already a serious hobby and
had started
to interest
Gauguin through
enthusiasm for
art
proved
to
was ready
In the
to take
on the
autumn
responsibilities of a wife, a
of 1872,
Gauguin met
woman
home, and a
whom
with
life.
and her
Even
at
siblings
were brought up
in
Copenhagen by
Now he
family.
to share his
island,
Mette
widowed mother.
their
left
home
of her
all
life.
At the age
come
to
known
in her conventional
middle-class home. Through the people she met, her outlook broadened and
Denmark
grew, so
much
so that, by the
time she was twenty-two years old, she was ready to accept an offer by the
wealthy father of one of her friends, Marie Heegaard, to join his daughter
as a
It
was during
visit to Paris.
Danish women. Though he was impressed by both of them, he was especially attracted to the vital
women
superficial
French
both
women
talks
a few
months
groom
comfortable apartment
first,
twenty-five.
at the prospect.
made
in
plans to marry.
was twenty-
13
and
to
set
up
their
seemed secure.
house
in a
>*
Chapter Two
A Momentous Decision
the
For
first
economic conditions
in
France and
much
of Europe, the
young
to provide
His family grew in number. Emile, a son, was born in 1874; a daughter,
Aline,
was born
in 1877; a
It
was, on
husband and
loving
wife,
happy, healthy children, and, for the head of the family, the anticipation of
a brilliant business career.
first
would deeply
Gauguin's interest in art was developing into a passion and was gradually
him
hand
to try a
art,
this.
At
first,
the
company
to
of Schuff,
he would take his paint box and easel to the countryside outside Paris, and,
his friend at a
artists, the
and had
liked
more time
to
it,
it.
By
1876, he
felt
own
art
more
who had
seriously
and
to devote
where
it
was accepted by
the jury
15
was by
far the
most important of
some
art
fact that
all
Parisian exhi-
to
reason, he told neither his wife nor his close friend Schuff of this
success.
was
was a
in St.
Cloud
and debate
at Arosa's
homes
in Paris and
to visit
museums and
private art
who gave
the
younger
artist his
16
(left)
to
to his mentor.
,_.
SJJl^ntS
described as a
"pest, "
at the
looks bitter
much
of
where he sharpened
when he painted
of the Schuffeneckers
servile
galleries,
home
his eye
there
is
this
at his wife.
and developed a
critical
understand-
Claude Monet,
Pissarro who were to
liked
to the paintings of a
Pierre-Auguste Renoir,
become known
as the
Impressionists.
what
at that
new method
of artistic expression,
17
on canvas
not a static scene but a fleeting impression. They worked in direct contact
The
to
they began
if
work
outside,
in their studios.
were
The
difficult one.
revolutionary,
Gauguin,
were willing
to
show them.
saw
galleries
in the galleries, as
On
the contrary, he
was
as excited by
what he
among them
the
Pissarro's
own. Born
his
Thomas
in the
sent
father. At the
him
in 1831
to Paris to
on the
mother and
Jewish
of the artists,
many
a Portuguese-
be educated.
It
was there
and, in 1847,
work
in
more
sketching local
scenes.
becoming
the
of his
to
he
time
His family
to his idea of
In
years
later, his
A few
family gave in to
him permis-
artist.
who
artist.
at Pontoise, a
small village near Paris, where Pissarro and his family had lived since 1866.
and
complementaries
their
to
his
younger
men
his
man
work
official
among them
artist,
head of
his son
Emile
at
the fourth
marble
cutter.)
The
as
well
canvases
several
as
he
year
following
land-
Pissarro. Gauguin's
was
crit-
his stylis-
indebtedness to Pissarro.
Gauguin's participation in the sixth
Impressionist
Exhibition,
which took
marked a turning
was praised by an
fluential critic,
J.
K.
among
invited to
show
portrait
Mette,
the
first
in-
Huysmans,
who was
first critics to
Jm
Snow
Gauguin painted
this large
the Impressionists.
It is
Scene. 1883
believed to
in Paris
show
the garden of a
from 1880
20
to 1883.
home Gauguin
rented
felt
ment."
who have
painters
encouragement
year,
when
treated the
to
critic
were of great
works shown
thirteen of his
at
it
was time
to
was made
easier by an event
beyond Gauguin's
were
to
and
control.
small, lost
make
As a
a move.
He decided
The news
that her
was
to give
seemed the
in jeopardy. This
up
right time
and devote
all
of
husband had
left his
job
came
as a shock to Mette.
Of
course, she had been aware of his increasing passion for art, but she had
failed to recognize the
all,
he had a family to
support, and to do that he would have to find another job so that they could
continue to
live in the
make
a living.
He turned
in inextricable difficulties,"
who
is
was expected
and
now
child
he wrote him.
"I
to painting without being assured of at least having half of the indispensable. ...
it is
Pissarro
what
it
was
an
artist for
my
find
offer
many
no
help.
He had known
had a large
family he was barely able to support. But he worried that Gauguin was too
living
that struggle.
guin had
made up
his
mind: in his
own
eyes, he
was already
a painter.
on December
6,
On
883,
21
decision
Gauguin's
courageous or
irresponsible,
change
in the stock
was
had
now have
to adjust to
being the
artist.
change
first
was
The
it
been depleted
wife of a struggling
whether
in their
way
of
life
Parisian home, which they could obviously no longer afford. Instead of finding
move
his family to
in the capital,
an apartment
Gauguin decided,
felt
own
style
Rouen
year, apparently
away from
Paris.
to
an
artist, in
Rouen
Rouen and
He want-
showed
northern
paintings
in
ed to develop his
was certain
it
in early 1884, to
who bought
as in Paris,
Gauguin found
it
nish his family with even the bare necessities. Mette suffered, too. Her hus-
to sell his
to her.
now seemed
steadily.
By
July, little
more than
six
months
its
22
value.
And by
early
autumn, Mette
^
was able
to
their marriage
month
later,
happiness again.
to find
Denmark with
Before leaving France, in order to insure some income, he had found work
as the Danish representative for a manufacturer of waterproof canvas.
Life in
arrival,
it
had been
enough canvas
to
~
three
good
months
in Pont-Aven,
women washing
inspired
some
for
to sell
dren.
Gauguin spent
Rouen
in
found
such as these
which
intentions,
family
made
life
chil-
of his
spite
in
Mette's
unbearable
for him.
artist,
who was
make
a living at
un-able to
to give
Worst of
to
painting.
am more
"I
mented by
ever,"
friend
Paris,
up
to the
In
back
May
teeth, that's
1885,
why
here than
wrote
he
tor-
to
his
Schuffenecker
"my money
it.
my
in
difficul-
search-
Gauguin complained
me from
spend time
art
ties as well as
Gauguin
all,
was unable
24
he was at
my
it
neck," he
wrote.
confounded
art,
My
man
everybody reproaches
pretending that
the faculties of a
is
me
for that
it is
me
stupid.
."
.
In
He was
Clovis.
and he had
making
friends
who
and
few
the
occasionally
him
offered
For one
completely
on
dependent
hope of
little
living.
was
he
year
penniless
hospitality
him money.
lent
In
Guests and
fell
commission
And
canceled.
efforts
to
sell
all
Inn
in Pont-Aven.
was
of the Gloanec
Gauguin
is
seated in the
left.
_^__^_^^_^__^_
of his
his
staff in front
own
who had
helped the Impressionists in their early struggles and the only dealer he
result,
in his
felt
to
provide a
home
or even enough
to
in for a
week or two,
but often the young boy slept on a rented bed, while his lather, wrapped in
a rug, slept on a mattress
on the
floor.
At one point,
25
all
(hat
Gauguin and
his
ill
with smallpox, a
station at a
meager salary of
in a railroad
Promotions followed
his
and
still first
and foremost on
little
to
his art.
opportunity to show his work. For this reason, he was preoccupied during
the
first
months
the forthcoming
movement was
group exhibition.
last
there
in
showed
little
when seen
at a distance,
blend
When
a year
in
year, the
felt,
left his
came
to
an end
but only
if
were equally
that
it
man
he really was
During that
wavered from
an
June 1886,
hoped
in
Though
bitter.
make ends
that Mette
he, too,
He accused
He felt
meet.
artist.
He never doubted
26
that he
would some-
deprivations that
consumed
so
he
felt,
Such
a period
could be blamed
to
much
failure,
If
only he
least, to set
aside
boarding
about twelve miles from the dramatic, rocky coast of the Atlantic Ocean,
where he hoped
to
America,
it
artists
among them.
A remote community
somber farmers,
millers,
of proud and
and fishermen,
way
their
of
Its
life
civilization.
women
tumes
had
they
as
continued
to
for
wear
centuries.
The
high
would pose
Because of these
Pont-Aven
qualities,
unique town,
its
citizens,
and the
gray,
it.
mysAs a
collaboration between
Ernest Chaplet,
is
Gauguin and
of four Breton
27
the ceramist
women
on
by the
a painting
artist.
28
was inexpensive,
who were
fortunate to find a
room
at the
inn
who
rent but
little
artists
pay their
bills
on time.
As soon as he arrived Gauguin took
a
room
For the
time in his
first
Gloanec Inn.
life,
he was free
superior as ever,
made
he
and
only one
friend,
Laval,
who was
junior.
The other
fourteen
years
painters
his
remained
company
in their
at the inn.
when
He pre-
silent
on
a walking
oth-
what he
solitary
figure,
wearing a blue
over one
ear,
Gauguin
the painter
a
was
new mediumlithography in
remarkably short time.
29
seemed revolutionary
to
in the village.
my
Everyone discusses
"I
am
ing
It
was time
among
Through
respected as
advice."
end.
which
came
whose culture
differed in
an
to
to return to Paris.
liv-
many ways
from his own. By moving further away from the influence of Pissarro and
the other Impressionists, his
work began
to develop a style
which would,
Back
in Paris,
that he
still
liv-
ing through his art alone. Faced with the need to support himself and Clovis
who had
life
were
sell
as
he went to Brittany. Once again nearly destitute and unable to take care of
his son, he
dreamed
could
of going
away
to a primitive place in a
live
It
was
warm
dream
that
first
time had
climate,
where he
life.
At the end of what had been a harsh and trying winter in Paris, he
worked out
a plan to
where he had
the coast
make
relatives,
to live the
this
dream come
and move
simple
life
true.
He would go
to
Panama,
he so desperately needed.
In early April 1887, his wife arrived in Paris to take Clovis back to
embarked
for
later,
Panama. After
their destination.
at
showed no
And they
fruit for
without anxiety for the day and for the morrow," had already
30
boom because
of the
building of the
Panama
money
to
to travel
way
back
to
A month
Panama
from
Saint
of
set out to
earn enough
Canal.
later,
miles
far
trip
Upon
was
to
it
artists.
the
village
Gauguin realized
^^
Soon,
Pierre.
^i^P-)~
...
that he
island he
for.
brilliant
warm,
you
scribe for
asm
and the
natives
friendly
delighted him.
its
"I
can't de-
my
enthusi-
Gauguin sent
French
Sermon,
outlet
of one of his
this sketch
to Vincent
van Gogh
of September
after the
in a letter
22, 1888.
in
the
whole
family
The
island's
damp
in
live
happily together.
ideal existence.
Already weakened from his journey from France and his exhausting physical labor
four months, he had to return to France for medical treatment, leaving his
life
all
31
his
own.
lost.
in a
Chapter Four
worked
his passage
Gauguin arrived
who remained
in
in
home
France
as a
deckhand on a schooner,
in
Weak and
Martinique.
home
thin,
was
and
still
Laval,
suffer-
destitute, forced
own
small studio.
among
van Gogh,
whom
a great deal in
also taken
Van Gogh was more emotional and impulsive. But they had
up painting
five
was an
artist
like
art.
Gauguin,
new ways
this,
of
united
sold
works of
asm
for
few did
to Paris in
live
1886 to
Theo
sell his
but
the
money earned
Mount
32
Pele'e,
can be seen
in the
background.
33
to
ridden artist was to return to Pont-Aven, where he could live cheaply and
take advantage of the generosity of
Life in Pont-Aven
was
difficult
Madame
Gloanec.
the
world only
art
visit-
ed during the spring and summer. Gauguin's health had not yet returned to
normal, and he was sometimes so poor that he couldn't afford canvas and
He
paints.
up hope of a
"All
art
room
nobody with
would reach
its
of an inn from
whom
morning
maturity in Pont-Aven.
this period,
"I like
sell their
first,
in
have absolute
it is
savage and
is
artists'
he had
little
luck.
cooperative to help
in Aries, in the
live
artists.
But
this suggestion.
Brittany,
Gauguin ignored
forth with a
night,
promote and
till
sound of
came
not given
During
still
alone in the
silence,
Denmark; he had
men
spring Theo
Gauguin a
in the late
Having
feasible plan.
on
fixed
monthly
pany, while sharing expenses. This time Gauguin accepted the offer, agreeing to
and
come
to Aries as
to
Madame Gloanec
to his doctor.
He
warm weather
summer
art colony,
and
leader.
It
was
artists
who came
to look
life.
upon him
as a painter.
34
Part of the credit for his growth as an artist during this period
Frenchman
(he
must be
time)
great deal
art.
He and
whom
he
looked to as his master, soon became close friends and colleagues, enthusiastically
methods of painting.
It
became
and
their
another, reached similar conclusions. Their goals were the same: to express
their inner feelings
35
it
when
it
was
was exhibited
greatly
in Paris.
you dream
literally.
Art
is
draw
abstraction;
art
from nature as
in nature's presence."
which came
to
be
known
as
art, tapestries,
and ancient
made use
frescoes, their
The Vision after the Sermon (Jacob Wrestling with the Angel).
A group
of Breton
women
style,
/<
first
work painted
36
entirely
of this
new
style.
Old
This work
Women
at Aries.
/<
their
harsh wind, as they walk through a public garden opposite the house Van Gogh
shared with Gauguin. The women, Gauguin wrote Entile Bernard, reminded
him
ors,
of the
women found
in the processions
on Greek urns.
The few months spent working with Bernard were exciting ones,
tically, for
Gauguin. During
this period,
In early
autumn,
Theo's
artis-
felt
it
came
was time
to
an
to accept
offer.
37
numbei
<>t
his
works
to
Theo
in Paris,
Gauguin arrived
in Aries.
Aries
one
He was
year,
and form an
live in
artists to
ideas; he expected to
and
stay in Aries for six months. After that, he planned to leave France again
resume
on an island
in
artists' studio.
He
in the tropics.
differ-
ences between them that would bring their experiment in shared living to a
dramatic end after only two months. The neat and well-organized Gauguin
was
house
in
women and
its
Brittany and
its
to
too,
found Aries
itself,
He
inhabitants.
other's paintings,
they disagreed in matters of art as well. "Our arguments are terribly electric,"
Vincent wrote to Theo. "We come out of them sometimes with our
men
it is
discharged."
certainly
I,"
it is I
"It
star-
come.
As
23.
Gauguin was taking a walk through the town gardens, he heard footsteps
behind him and found Van Gogh wildly menacing him with a razor. Able
ward him
off,
to
it
in
was determined
bed
that
Dutch painter turned the razor on himself, cutting off the lower part of his
left
fuselv,
it
was
a miracle that he
was
still
38
alive.
Gauguin's stay in Aries had been shorter than he had anticipated, and
had ended
several
new
Upon
Women
it
at Aries.
French
capital,
problem that had plagued him ever since he had made the decision
to pur-
Gauguin
that he looked
mad
in this portrait.
He
electricity. "
at
Gauguin's head.
wmm
39
told
in a
40
were not
artist.
He
and the
And
his paintings
kind dealer was no longer able to send Gauguin his monthly stipend.
He
work through
to
promised
money
Gauguin returned
to Brittany,
knew
He was
to
spend almost
all
little
would have
more
there,
to
his gallery,
his art,
And he
artist.
During these years there were reasons to hope and reasons to despair.
to
show
his work,
and these
(left)The
Dutchman Jacob
Gauguin
oil),
(a
joined
in Brittany in
became
close friends.
(right )This
jug
is
self-
One of
works,
it
was
Museum
of
Decorative Arts in
Copenhagen.
41
was
be displayed in a
to
new
who were
accepted were asked to show their work and Gauguin was not one
chance
was
delighted
when
show
to
his work,
Gauguin
be
to
the ideal site for an independent exhibition: the large hall of a cafe located
right next to the official art section of the Fair.
When
list
this
of
ciated,
"It's
in the exhibition.
He
also requested
in refusing to
whom
Gauguin came
and Seurat.
He worked
white
he immediately sent a
tion.
at Pont-Aven,
at the Fair,
Gauguin
was not
He had an opportunity
as the leader of a
Though he valued
new and
exciting
own.
mediocre, popular
artists,
who saw
little
his
pavilions
work recognized
movement.
had changed.
as well as
attracted
many exotic
crowds of
much
to
It
to visit the
artists
the recognition he
his
a success.
sold.
in
attention,
framed
It
The
at Pont-Aven.
was now
filled
with
vil-
coast, ten
The move
to
many
gifted painters
who had
42
where
artistically,
for
he lived includ-
Among
is
was a powerful
was intended
desolate isolation
and medieval
43
quality of
life
it
unmodeled yellow,
belle:
La
When
ai
she called
it
a "horror"
mayor of Pont-Aven,
and refused
44
to
keep
it
in
to see this
her home.
Gauguin proved
sions at night.
to
whom
his
generous
men
lived for
in stimulating discus-
Some
wooden
"my
It is
loom so high
finding the
means
to
In February 1890,
what
is
to
Gauguin traveled
to Paris
that effort
Indian Ocean.
He planned
when
to
of the south.
would
there.
sell his
By May, he
He would
live like a
much like
"savage peas-
new
a real-
thirty-eight paintings
and
five
to Brittany.
apart.
sum
that
trip.
fall
daunt
much the privations now as that the future difwhen we are low. In the face of living, even meanly, I
ity
to
not so
failed,
enough
to do."
etc., is
first
time,
On August
1,
in his brother's
arms on July
months
later,
and
his retirement
45
lost
two of
November, only
to learn that
dis-
to
make any
paintings he had
none of
left
his friends
efforts
on
his
back the
to take
to join
him
in his escape
to paradise.
he
feared that
it
was too
to
in his
power
to get there. If
paintings, he
would
sell
do everything
sell his
to
still
had
them him-
successful.
lost
Symbolist
who were becoming increasingly influential in France. These writamong them Stephane Mallarme, Paul Verlaine, and Arthur Rimbaud,
writers
ers,
did with words what the artist did with colors and shapes: they suggested
upon him
documenting
reality.
Looking
up
his
cause by praising him as an unrecognized genius in newspaper and magazine articles. As a result of their efforts, the auction of Gauguin's works, held
artist
At last Gauguin
was able
to
this auction
than
make concrete
He
in the
dining
caricature,
and
at Le Pouldu.
It
was conceived as a
46
47
in
letter to
Van Gogh:
life,
it is
like a
traveled to
Copenhagen on March
visit
it
7 for
was
difficult
to
the
him when
new work
would not go
in Paris.
Shortly after his return to Paris further good news reached him. Largely
through the efforts of Charles Morice, a Symbolist poet, Gauguin had been
granted funds for an official art mission to Tahiti. This meant a reduction
in fare to the island, the
48
commitment by
painting
On
upon
April
1,
his return.
1891,
Gauguin
Among
art,
and repro-
art.
is
one of a
series
in 1890. It is
classic
kill
49
style.
Chapter Five
brown
amused
the natives,
9,
celebrity
by
his
cowboy
taata-vahine
officials of the
and
velvet suit,
his
French
Based on
colo-
lucrative portrait
among whom he
mingled.
it
was obvious
commissions would
Furthermore,
artist himself.
Once known
for
its
it
streets
its
village of
were lined
who now
well,
ished with
"It
artist
Tahitian
the Europe
thought
had
fin-
The
to the
Women,
or
On
the Beach.
891
women.
It
women
in this
50
woman
served as model
mysterious work.
51
w ***?%.-
52
"
Nevermore.
The
in
artist
1897:
"I
wrote
to
wished
897
Monfreid
to suggest
by
a certain
It is
which are
and sad;
velvet,
deliberately
it is
neither
somber
silk,
nor
the material
artist.
made
rich by the
Man's imagination
57
58
59
it
bor-
dered on caricature."
months
In September, three
a
home
in the
down
He
district far
left
and
more
sailors
It
light
trees.
trees.
The people,
too,
were
seemed,
and
population of 516
its
his hut
interesting
to find
at first, idyllic,
of Brittany),
Gauguin began
to the intense
work. At
and
life,
first
women.
and people of
By
showed
the land
his imagination.
early 1892 he
was forced
to live in
and hardships
problem, once again, was his inability to earn enough money to support
himself.
out,
The funds he had brought with him from France had quickly run
and he received neither money nor news regarding payment from the
were experienced
subsisted on
in gathering fruit
little
from the
Vahine no
te vi
to catch fish
trees.
fruit,
a ripe
mango
in
is
60
1892
woman, holding
Yet, it is
distinguished by
61
was
far
beyond
his
means.
ill.
too,
Hospi-
blood, he
up
by doctors
told
that
attack.
he
was
Unable
pay his
to
bills,
left
orders.
By May,
worsened, as the
artist's health,
diet,
was stub-
work.
He considered moving on
to the
Marquesas
Islands, about
where he could
live
Tahiti,
among an
The Siesta,
1891-92
c.
and
title,
but
it is
shows Tahitians
colonial influence
the
first visit to
doing
sitting at
setting.
is reflected
The
in
the
62
0r
63
64
came
to
thirty-five paintings
works of
had hoped
to
enough money
art. It
of work, but he
remain on the
island,
and he
didn't
have enough
to
pay his
expense.
It
would take
(left)
The
artist
la
at least four
months
(below)
A photograph showing
"I
am
Tahitians, to
it."
Gauguin
first
arrived in Tahiti. The artist probably lived in a similar hut while in Mataiea.
65
"
so he continued to
work
the best he
and
its
people.
among whom he
lived.
To remedy
this,
more primitive
hoping
hoping,
find
to
too,
to
vahine,
live.
or
Such
mon on
the island
sidered immoral.
Manao tupapau
the
(Spirit of
Gauguin wrote
piece: "The
of this
complex master-
lating lines,
harmonies
of
orange and
and
violet,
and
lit
by greenish
woman
have
set
down
why and
is
and
day.
the wherefore.
the
But othenvise
it
66
67
His
trip
was successful
thirteen-year-old vahine
have hoped
assuming
for.
all
and he returned
in every way,
numerous
portraits of
scenes of everyday
was
all
he could
life all
work
artist,
life.
to
Tehamana, as well as
managed
girl
Mataiea with a
Beautiful, gentle,
to
work
A
in
letter
Copenhagen and
that she
its
had
way. Mette
wrote that she needed the money for herself and the children, and Morice,
his collector,
dom and
remained
beauty.
silent. "Farewell,
When Gauguin
that his hopes
worked hard
would be
in Tahiti
financial rewards
was certain
much
finally bring
and
sixty paintings.
had
These
to
when he
a failure financially,
to
buy one of
his paintings
officials
upon
and
that
no money
his return
from
Tahiti.
The only
title refers
both to the Tahitian custom of real and foster parents sharing children and to the
belief that all Tahitians are desceitdants
68
of
two
dieties.
69
Gauguin painted
an indication that
latter is reversed
70
him
him
money would
legal matters
for several
had been
artist's
settled. In the
all
not be available to
concerning the
to
will
depend on the
was
Gauguin was
responsible for organizing and financing the entire exhibition, which would
open
in just
two months.
was an enormous
It
job,
failing
him
alogue and to use his influence in getting the publicity that was essential to
the success of the exhibition. Morice also agreed to
on a book that
work with
the painter
paintings.
November
9.
consisted of forty-one paintings from Tahiti, three from Brittany, and two
by the dazzling bright colors and the unfamiliar subject matter. According
to
let
And many
most of them
when
view-
laughed deri-
in Tahitian.
critics
made
fun of
artist's
and purple
trees,
his progress
and
achievements. The young people, as well as the writers, poets, and intellec-
were the most enthusiastic, and one of their leaders, the great French
tuals,
many when he
much mystery can be put into so much
"It is
extraordinary that so
brilliance."
closed on
November
was
a failure financially.
had been
When
71
it
atten-
tion he
was expected
show was
of
it,"
results that
Mette, however,
me
the greatest
and
is
that
jealousy.
modern
my
.
painter."
his
dreams
and promises. She wanted only one thing from him: money. The tone of her
letters in return
made
it
man
she had
married and, as far as she was concerned, there was absolutely no hope of
a reconciliation.
Gauguin,
was forced
too,
be
fulfilled.
among
at least
that of earning a
Parisian intellectuals.
month
Now he would
make them
easier to
sell.
little
more than
it
Paris's Left
might
and with
artist
an
ly establishing his
Gauguin
good
living as
artists lived.
He
painted the walls of his studio chrome yellow and olive green,
He
filled
the
boomerangs, and
his
own and
objects
intricately carved
his travels.
sharing
Each Thursday
playing host to painters, poets, and musicians. Together they sang songs
and played music, and often Gauguin would regale them with
travels
well
and share
known
his ideas
on
art.
He became
a colorful
stories of his
and increasingly
72
little
devoted his time to completing Noa Noa, meaning "fragrant land," the book
on Tahitian mythology,
is
Noa Noa
fiction.
is
Some
in his paintings.
Written in col-
an account of the
of
it,
artist's
stay in
some ways
Tahiti.
it,
year he
left
on
73
But
it is
in
leave Paris
complete
and
failure,
and
He was
free to
of 1894.
it
difficult to
On May 25, while visiting the small fishing village of Concarneau with
Annah and a few friends, he became involved in a brawl with a number of
local fishermen who had insulted Annah. In the course of the fight, he fell,
ed
to.
breaking his right leg just above the ankle. Because of his injury, the
was unable
artist
since
living far
life
of Oceania,
"Ever
to Tahiti.
On November
found that
it
14,
he returned to Paris.
The
opened
art
move
watercolors,
the
2.
to raise the
would leave
for Tahiti as
to
go to
Gauguin announced
there; without a
Tahiti.
that he
to
moment's
choose
hesita-
he will leave for Tahiti," the Journal des Artistes reported on December
tion.
art,
tion,
remaining works of
paintings, sculptures,
Noa Noa
girl
to sell these
illustrations for
writers,
artist
When
18,
works were sold. Disheartened and bitter, he sailed for Tahiti on July
eight
3.
His
departure had been delayed by a skin ailment that covered his whole body,
labeled an "unfortunate disease" most probably syphilis.
74
Schneklud was among those who attended the weekly musical and
When working on
cellist
75
literary
Gauguin
himself.
76
Chapter Six
Exile
^T
^*
hen Gauguin
had no
1895, he
specific,
futility
in
permanent
When
settler.
9,
1895, he
was reminded
Had
it
it,
more
civilized
If
anything,
at
it
not been for his few friends and the proximity of relatively decent
left at
Islands.
from the
capital,
live
the small
where he rented
district of
what
Punaauia,
on which
optimism returned
briefly, as
palms, guavas, and banana trees, not far from the white beach that ran
first
sit-
uation.
very
haired model
is
Girl. 1894
Of special
interest
yellow missionary dress which Gauguin must have brought to France from
77
is
the
Tahiti.
isolated and,
home-
inevitably,
sick.
Tehamana,
hine,
cared to
whom
live
his
former va-
man
with a sick
Pahura,
fourteen-year-old
who had
Gauguin
decessor. Furthermore,
and
ill
His
tional
emo-
both
condition,
throughout the
first
half of 1896.
contemplating suicide. By
his
was admitted
officially
listed
to
as
July,
sores, he
the
hospital,
an indigent
he
left
feeling almost
miracu-
Mahana no atua
(Day of the God). 1894
This fascinating allegorical
brings to
life
an ancient
religious festival.
Tahitia>i
Though
work
the sub-
painted
it
in Paris.
78
79
He began
lously better.
to paint enthusiastically,
among them
beautiful works,
might be
the
monumental canvas No
whenever
te
aha oe
riri.
He
sold. In
sizable check
works
selling his
and resume
unknown
him
to
In April
many
for
years.
was the
Aline
closest to
pneumonia on January
him
in
19.
Of
his children,
all
felt
had been
Mette:
"I
have just
lost
my daughter.
it is
tomb
is
marked
my tears
More disturbing
April.
whom
end of
at the
sell
another plot of land, near his former home, and added a large studio to an
already existing
wooden house.
in his
tion,
shunned him
more comfortable
sturdier and
for fear he
had
many
of the
infec-
became so ugly
leprosy.
that
On September 30,
who shared his love
he wrote to Georges-
of the sea
remain
"My journey
adventure, but
it
to Tahiti
all
problems
Gauguin suffered
was
see no
mad
way out
."
.
series
80
and would
of
minor heart
attacks.
In
"
He decided
whether by suicide
to confront death,
make one
to
last
enormous
effort, to
mary of
his spiritual
and philosophical
and night
feverishly day
his masterpiece.
titled
for several
When
it
on a huge,
weeks
to cre-
was completed,
it
it
was determined
was consumed by
to
end
his
own
disease.
life,
in his
was too
great,
and the induced vomiting made him expel the poison. The following mornhe managed to
make
his
way down
the mountain.
beginning of the
final
remained on Tahiti
years, characterized
at suicide
marked
phase of his
life.
more
the
He
tragic
He
years,
impeded by
his
steadily
on
his
deteriorating
fail,
the sores
his ankle,
critics to
be Gauguin's
it,
be
he wrote:
more
"I
believe that
to find a
buyer
will
this he/ore.
81
-^
which had never healed properly, caused such pain that he was frequently
unable to walk or stand before an easel.
Frustrated with not being able to paint often, he turned to journalism,
first
through
bitter,
combative
essays written for a satirical journal, Les Guepes (The Wasps), and later for
Le Sourire (The Smile) a booklet that he wrote, edited, and printed himself.
,
money
Eager
to
in Papeete.
to
in
remain
It
was poor-
at his
job until
first
might come
to
SiSEESSESSS^BS?'
jg^PAULGAUGUIN^a 5
MOANOAfr
4
(left)
This
is
one of several
prepared for
(right)
Noa Noa.
Folio 63 from a
manuscript of Noa
82
Noa
it
that
earned him respect in the community. And, far more important, in March
he signed a contract with Ambroise Vollard, an enterprising and clever
who
from Gauguin each year for a steady monthly sum. Through the paintings
he managed to complete and send to Paris, his fame was growing, and his
work was
finally
beginning to
sell.
He would,
at last,
time peacefully in Tahiti, painting without the concerns that had tormented him for so
It
many
years.
made
plans to
late.
in Tahiti."
move
Once
to the far
Islands.
"I
think that there, the altogether wild element, the complete solitude will give
me
Having paid
which
my talent
will rejuvenate
before
die,"
he wrote
83
my
imagination and
to
Charles Morice.
and given up
his career
84
as a journalist in Tahiti,
in
Atuona,
of
capital
the
and second
largest of
16,
its
was
paradise.
not
population
Its
been
had
bloody
diminished
by
wars,
and
tribal
to
live there.
tically,
to
Warmly greeted
this.
No
te
aha oe
riri
(Why
monumental canvas,
upon an
painting.
based
earlier Tahitian
It is
determine just
though
is
it is
difficult to
who
is
angry,
probably the
standing figure.
85
Guepes, he soon bought a piece of land in the middle of the village and, with
the help of
set
Happy crowds
months on
the island,
it
"The House of
was
it
just that.
and playing
his
By
the middle of
November, Gauguin
marked
his
January 1902
and
parties
settled
vigor.
thirty-two
color,
he painted
still lifes,
that soon he
new
would arrange
to
have
Vollard.
Gauguin's
last.
as
proved
to
be
difficulty walking.
Unable to paint, he
again became an angry spokesman for the French residents as well as for
the natives; he refused to pay his
own
taxes
went
to
do the same.
to her family's
home
to
have her baby and never returned. Gauguin was alone. By September,
to sleep
would
settle in Spain.
it,
aid, after
which he
return to France for another few years. "You are a unique and legendary
artist,"
them
in a
of Tahitian
Buddhalike pose.
86
women one of
87
his return to
By
dom
He wrote
commitment
earlier. Instead,
to Vollard,
he directed
sel-
he sent
all
of his
the Catholic church, the state, French art critics, and the insti-
tution of marriage.
recollections,
And he kept
a kind of diary,
his
et
words into
combined with
apres {Before
action.
He
and
number
of
After).
abuses of the colonial government and fought for the rights of the natives.
After a while,
government
officials retaliated.
On March
27, 1903, he
was
months
in prison.
Too weak
self in his
good
to
house for a
full
who, on May
few hours
found him
inert,
it,
8,
later,
one
leg
found him
in bed, writhing
Tioka, a carpenter
who was
Marquesan custom,
traditional
head
alive.
bit his
to
in
the
Catholic
lived
cere-
cemetery
Two months
that Paul
Gauguin was
far
more
and
artists of the
In this
(left)
self-
painted
in 1903,
fifty-
jour years.
On
(right)
May
9,
Saturday,
1903,
cemetery over-
ofAtuona. This
tombstone marks
his grave.
time, they
of fifty
crowded
into the
that
gallery,
where an exhibition
paintings and
Since
Ambroise Vollard
Gauguin's
fame,
throughout his lifetime, has steadily grown. The recognition of his enor-
mous
cles
est
talent has
become
who
followed him,
art.
89
of
who
some
He
will
dared to experi-
List of Illustrations
front JACKET and page
47: Self-Portrait
page
back jacket: Breton Girls Dancing, PontAven. 1888. Oil on canvas, 2 8 '4 x 36"4" (71.4
92.8 cm). Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul
Mellon,
Washington, D.C.
yellow paper,
"
PAGE
4:
"
19'/2
on
Museum, Amsterdam
page
Oil
D.C.
Zurich
PAGE
page
14: Detail of
PAGE
16:
Old
Women
Laye
PAGE
37:
Coburn Memorial
The Art Institute of
reserved
PAGE
page
39:
1888. Oil
"
Museum
of
Modern
Art,
New
York. Gift of
Arthur G. Altschul
page
45
20:
x 35"
Snow
(1
page
PAGE
24:
Women washing
page
and Ants
Copenhagen
Aven
90
on canvas,
PAGE
La
44:
Oil
Oil
page
Williamstown, Massachusetts
Collection
vas,
27V8 x 45
/8 "
Webb, London
PAGE 61: Vahine no te vi (Woman with a
Mango). 1892. Oil on standard canvas, 25 5/8 x
17'/2 " (72.7 x 44.5 cm). The Baltimore
Museum of Art, The Cone Collection, formed
by Dr. Claribel Cone and Miss Etta Cone of
page
Thumerelle
page
83:
Noa Noa
Baltimore, Maryland
on
16 cm). Collection
PAGE
65: la
Bequest of
Sam
A.
Lewisohn, 1951
page
c.
page 87: Primitive Tales. 1902. Oil on can5PA x 35'// (131.5 x 90.5 cm). Museum
Folkwang, Essen
1891. Photo:
vas,
"
New
Oil
on
Mme. Amandine
91
Dore, Paris
V';
_j*5ioH^fc?
Index
Italic
to illustrations.
Annah,
72, 74
Arosa, Gustave, 12, 13, 16, 18
Avant et apres (Before and
After), 88
Belle Angele,
La (Portrait of
portrait of
(Pissarro), 16; 16; portraits
bv, 8, 16, 17, 19, 22, 38, 39,
41, 44, 60, 68, 75, 77; as
sailor,
Paris,
46
Women
37
sculpture, 19,
35-37,43,46,49, 57,
60, 66, 89; in Tahiti, 49, 50,
Picasso, Pablo, 89
Pissarro, Camille, 16, 17, 18-19,
21, 22, 24, 30,42; 16
Pointillism, 26
Pont-Aven, Brittany, 24, 27; 24
Primitive Tales, 86; 87
31, 32,
60,62, 65-66,68,73,77-78,
80-83, 85; woodcuts, 73-74,
82; 82, 83; writings, 73, 82,
83, 85-86, 88
48; 48
Self-Portrait for Carriere, 6; 7
Self-Ponraii with Glasses, 89; 88
Self-Portrait with Halo, 46; 47
Huysmans,
J.
K., 19, 21
70
Seurat, Georges, 42
Siesta. The, 62; 4-5, 62-63
26
Snow
Symbolism,
Synthetism, 36, 43
Gauguin, Paul;
1;
Chaplet, Ernest, 27
Chazal, Andre, 8
Corot, Camille, 12
Courbet, Gustave, 12
Daumier, Honore, 12
Degas, Edgar, 35
Delacroix, Eugene, 12
Durand-Ruel, Paul, 25, 71
Dutchman Jacob Mever de
Haan, The, 41; 40
10-1
Old
photographs
in Aries, 38-39;
la
Tahitian
Women (On
the
Beach), 50:51-52
Tristan, Flora, 8
Tropical Vegetation, 32; 33
Manao tupapau
Dead
(Spirit of the
Watching), 66, 70;
66-67. 70
Matisse, Henri, 89
92
Vahine no
te vi
(Woman
with a
Mango), 60; 61
Van Gogh Painting Sunflowers,
38, 39; 39
Vision After the Sermon, The
(Jacob Wrestling with the
Angel), 36; 36; sketch of, 31; 31
Vollard, Ambroise, 83, 86, 88
Young Christian
76
ftfflRiiT
IMPRESSIONS
Art
n:roductions to
Mary
Cassatt
BY SUSAN
E.
MEYER
Marc Chagall
BY HOWARD GREENFELD
Leonardo da Vinci
BY RICHARD McLANATHAN
Francisco G
BY ANN WALDRON
Michelangelo
BY RICHARD McLANATHAN
Claude Monet
BY ANN WALDRON
Pablo Picasso
BY JOHN BEARDSLEY
Rembrandt
or
f$f
BY GARY SCHWARTZ
Andrew Wyeth
BY RICHARD MERYMAN
Si
&//
*
Marc Chagall
in this series,
has written
many
about
how books
are made.
wood,
1992 National
HA
BRAMs
10
AVENl
NE
Pr
10011
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Introductions to
Art
au IGau tun
turned his back on his country and
left his
would
was
less
some
What he found
]-AlQT-337b-4
90000
9'780810"933767