Paul Gauguin, an outstanding French artist, was born on June 7, 1848. He is a major representative of post-impressionism in the art of painting. It is considered an unsurpassed master of fine decorative stylization, with elements of the so-called "island" style of artistic drawing. The artist’s creative style was determined by his integration into the society of Aboriginal people living in Tahiti. Gauguin lived on the island for the last few years of his life in complete peace and quiet. The people around him represented an inexhaustible source of stories for creating paintings, and the artist worked tirelessly. During his life in Tahiti, Paul Gauguin painted more than a hundred paintings, but only a small part has survived to this day.
Departure to Peru
Paul Gauguin grew up in the family of a political journalist, a leading columnist for Nacional magazine. Mother, along with her many relatives, preached Utopian socialism. The republican radical ideas of the father and the fanatical belief of the mother in non-existent values created an unhealthy atmosphere in the family, and young Gauguin tried not to delve into the complex interweaving of relations between parents. During the aggravation of the political situation in France, the entire Gauguin family embarked on a ship sailing to Latin America. On the way, Paul’s father passed away, the cause of death was a heart attack. Upon arrival in Peru, the future artist was accepted into the family of relatives on the maternal side, where he gained comfort and the possibility of creative development. A new country, exotic and unusual, conquered the Fields, its flavor marked the beginning of Gauguin's love for the tropics.
Return to France
However, fate decreed that Paul Gauguin, at the age of eight, with his mother went back to France to obtain inheritance rights left after the death of his uncle, his father’s brother. Mother and son, having completed all the necessary documents under the will, decided not to return to Peru and stay in France. Paul began to study, and his mother took up the sewing business. At the age of 17, young Gauguin hired a young man on a ship and went on a long voyage. Over the next six years, Paul sailed across the seas and oceans, got acquainted with new countries, received a kind of life experience. Before returning to France, he learns about the death of his mother, who in a letter entrusts her son to his friend Gustav Aroz, a businessman and art collector. Gustavus cordially greets Gauguin, they no longer part until the departure of Paul to Tahiti.
Personal life
Having a little rest from sea voyages, Gauguin got a job as a broker on the stock exchange, he was successful: Paul began to make decent money. Changes are also taking place in his personal life, at a party in the family of his friend Gustav Gauguin, he meets the charming Danish girl Sophie Gado and after a while marries her. In the same period, Paul begins to try his hand in the field of fine art, his first paintings are openly amateurish in nature, and a disappointed Gauguin throws painting. The appearance of a child for some time distracts the future artist from creative attempts, but soon he returns to the easel and this return becomes fateful, now the painter Paul Gauguin will not part with his brush until the end of his life.
First exhibitions
The works of the aspiring artist immediately aroused the interest of critics, but they were confused, because Gauguin's style was unpredictable, his expression did not fit into the canons of painting, and the combination of colors was simply unthinkable. Talked about an unusual artist, he began to receive invitations to participate in exhibitions of the Impressionists. Any picture of the French artist Paul Gauguin could participate in these exhibitions. The whole of 1879, the time of the formation of Gauguin as an artist, was marked by a continuing interest in his work. Thanks to the unique manner of mildly disturbing the proportions of the female body, Paul Gauguin, whose paintings usually evoked mixed opinions, in most cases presented the public with magnificent examples of exclusivity.
Gauguin's style
At that time, impressionism reigned in the visual arts, and the young artist quickly quickly joined this exquisite style of painting. He managed to realize his vision of the world in a special "Gauguin" manner. Wonderful canvases came out from under his brush, bright and original, on which authenticity and fantasy were combined in an incomprehensible way, conventionality alternated with reality, and the characters never dominated, remaining part of the plot of the picture. A few years later, Paul Gauguin, whose paintings were recognized by the art community of France, got the opportunity to participate in various exhibitions of the Impressionists, which were openly bohemian in nature.
Need
Gauguin's success was even, his work aroused interest, but there was no excitement around his work. The artist was praised, but no one bought the work. Gradually, the paintings of Gauguin, which artists from all over France came to see, became for him simple unnecessary sketches, he lost faith in his creative aspirations, although he continued to write. He did not receive any benefit from work, he lived in need, he had to work a lot in order to somehow feed himself. In art, such cases are not uncommon when during life, talented masters barely make ends meet, and after death their work receives universal recognition. Gauguin's paintings also began to sell and buy for a lot of money after his death.
Two friends of Gauguin
Camille Pissarro, a friend of Gauguin, had a decisive influence on his work. A participant in all the Impressionist exhibitions, and there were exactly eight of them, Pissarro shared his experience with his younger colleague, revealing to him the subtleties of the art of painting. Paul Gauguin ( his paintings at one time were an attempt to imitate Pissarro) eventually developed his own style of writing. In 1885, Paul Gauguin met the already established artist Edgar Degas, a longtime fan of his work. And since they admired, but did not buy, Gauguin’s paintings, his acquaintance with Degas was somewhat saving for him, since the venerable impressionist artist began to acquire Paul Gauguin’s work for a good price, thereby maintaining his existence at a decent level.
Life in Tahiti
In 1884, Gauguins with the whole family moved to Copenhagen, where Paul continued to work as a stockbroker. However, painting has already become for him the meaning of life. A year later, Gauguin, leaving his wife and five children, returned to Paris. However, his paintings were still not bought, and in the end the artist left for Tahiti, where, in his words, he "merged with nature", completely parting with civilization. On the island of Gauguin, whose paintings remained in France, experienced an unprecedented creative upsurge, only in 1892 he painted eighty paintings. The artist married a young Tahitian and lived relatively happily, doing painting and journalism. But he began to change his health, his health worsened, and soon Paul Gauguin died of a tropical disease. After a few years, Gauguin's paintings with names reflecting the period of his life in Tahiti began to appear at auctions.