Gauguin portraits. Paul Gauguin: an unusual biography of an unusual man

French artist Paul Gauguin He traveled a lot, but a special place for him was the island of Tahiti - the land of “ecstasy, tranquility and art”, which became a second home for the artist. It is here that he writes his most outstanding works, one of which is “Oh, are you jealous?”- deserves special attention.

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 expanses of 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 was not at all confident in his artistic abilities. 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

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 painted many interesting paintings in 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.

Masterpieces of fine art, in particular, are a reflection of a person's path, the embodiment of a feeling that cannot be described in words. Perhaps there is a deeper, more fundamental meaning hidden in them. Paul Gauguin, a hunter of secrets and, as he was called, the famous “creator of myths,” tried to find him.

Paul Gauguin was a creative person who learned new things on the fly, constantly educating himself. But he perceived what he saw in his own way, subconsciously introduced him to his artistic world and combined it with other parts. He created a world of his own fantasies and thoughts, created his own mythology. Having started as a self-taught artist, Gauguin was influenced by the Barbizon school, the Impressionists, the Symbolists, and individual artists with whom fate encountered him. But, having mastered the necessary technical skills, he felt an overwhelming need to find his own path in art, which would allow him to express his thoughts and ideas.

Eugene Henri Paul Gauguin born June 7, 1848 in Paris. This time fell during the years of the French Revolution. In 1851, after a coup d'etat, the family moved to Peru, where the boy was captivated by the bright, unique beauty of an unfamiliar country. His father, a liberal journalist, died in Panama, and the family settled in Lima.

Until the age of seven, Paul lived in Peru with his mother. Childhood “contacts” with exotic nature and bright national costumes were deeply imprinted in his memory and reflected in a constant desire to change places. After returning to his homeland in 1855, he constantly insisted that he would return to the “lost paradise.”

His childhood years spent in Lima and Orleans determined the artist’s fate. After graduating from high school in 1865, Gauguin, as a young man, entered the French merchant fleet and traveled around the world for six years. In 1870 - 1871, the future artist took part in the Franco-Prussian War, in battles in the Mediterranean and North Seas.

Returning to Paris in 1871, Gauguin established himself as a stockbroker under the guidance of his wealthy guardian Gustave Arosa. At that time, Arosa was an outstanding collector of French painting, including paintings by contemporary Impressionists. It was Arosa who awakened Gauguin's interest in art and supported it.

Gauguin's earnings were very decent, and in 1873 Paul married the Danish woman Mette Sophie Gad, who served as a governess in Paris. Gauguin began decorating the house in which the newlyweds moved in with paintings that he bought and which he became seriously interested in collecting. Paul knew many painters, but Camille Pissarro, who believed that “you can give up everything! for the sake of art” is the artist who left the biggest emotional mark on his mind.

Paul began to paint and, of course, tried to sell his creations. Following his example of Arosa, Gauguin bought up impressionist canvases. In 1876 he exhibited his own painting at the Salon. The wife considered it childish, and buying paintings was a waste of money.

In January 1882, the French stock market crashed and the bank Gauguin burst. Gauguin finally gave up the idea of ​​finding a job and, after painful deliberation, in 1883 he made a choice, telling his wife that painting was the only thing left that he could do for a living. Stunned and frightened by the unexpected news, Mette reminded Paul that they have five children, and no one buys his paintings - it’s all in vain! The final break with his wife deprived him of his home. Living from hand to mouth on borrowed money against future royalties, Gauguin does not back down. Paul persistently searches for his path in art.

In early paintings Gauguin the first half of the 1880s, executed at the level of impressionistic painting, there is nothing unusual for which it would be worth giving up even an average-paying job; circumstances forced him to turn his hobby into a craft that would provide him and his family with a livelihood.

Did Gauguin think of himself as a painter at this time? "Copenhagen", written in the winter of 1884 - 1885, marks an important turning point in the fate of Gauguin and is the starting point for the formation of the image of the artist, which he will create throughout his career.

Gauguin marked an important turning point in his life: a year ago he left his job, forever ending his career as a stockbroker and the existence of a respectable bourgeois, setting himself the task of becoming a great artist.

In June 1886 Gauguin leaves for Pont-Aven, a town on the southern coast of Brittany, where original morals, customs and ancient costumes are still preserved. Gauguin wrote that Paris “is a desert for the poor man. [...] I will go to Panama and live there as a savage. […] I will take my brushes and paints with me and find new strength away from the company of people.”

It was not only poverty that drove Gauguin away from civilization. An adventurer with a restless soul, he always sought to find out what was beyond the horizon. That's why he loved experiments in art so much. During his travels, he was drawn to exotic cultures and wanted to immerse himself in them in search of new ways of visual expression.

Here he becomes close to M. Denis, E. Bernard, C. Laval, P. Sérusier and C. Filiger. Artists enthusiastically studied nature, which seemed to them a mysterious mystical action. Two years later, a group of painters - followers of Gauguin, united around Sérusier, would receive the name "Nabi", which translated from Hebrew meant "Prophets". In Pont-Aven, Gauguin painted pictures of the life of peasants, in which he used simplified contours and strict composition. Gauguin's new pictorial language caused lively debate among artists.

In 1887, he travels to Martinique, which enchanted him with the half-forgotten exoticism of the tropics. But swamp fever forced the artist to return to his homeland, where he worked and received further treatment in Arles. His friend Van Gogh lived there at the same time.

Here he begins to try with a simplified “childish” drawing - without shadows, but with very catchy colors. Gauguin began to resort to more colorful colors, apply thicker masses, and arrange them with greater rigor. It was a defining experience that heralded new conquests. The works of this period include the works "" (1887), "" (1887).

Paintings from Martinique were exhibited in Paris in January 1888. The critic Felix Fénéon found in Gauguin's work “gaelfulness and barbaric character,” although he admits that “these proud paintings” already give an understanding of the artist’s creative character. However, no matter how fruitful the Martinique period was, it was not a turning point in Gauguin’s work.

A characteristic feature of all types of creativity Paul Gauguin is the desire to go beyond the mentality on the basis of which his “European” art was determined, his desire to enrich the European artistic tradition with new visual means, allowing a different look at the world around him, which permeates all the artist’s creative quests.

In his famous painting “” (1888), the image, noticeably expanded on a plane, is divided vertically into conventional zones, located, like in medieval “primitives” or Japanese kakemono, in front of each other. In a vertically elongated still life, the image unfolds from top to bottom. The resemblance to a medieval scroll was built contrary to generally accepted methods of composition. On a shining white plane - the background - like a picket fence, a chain of glasses divides the upper tier with the puppies. This is a kind of unified structure of the elements of an old Japanese woodblock print by Japanese artist Utagawa Kuniyoshi "" and " Still life with onion» Paul Cezanne.

The painting “”, a kind of manifestation of the same idea of ​​​​comparing “distant and different”, to prove their relationship, as in “ Still life with a horse's head" But this idea is expressed in a different plastic language - with a complete rejection of any natural illusoryness and verisimilitude, emphasized by large-scale inconsistencies and the same ornamental and decorative interpretation of the material. Here you can see a comparison of “different eras” of pictorial culture - the noticeably coarsened and simplified upper part of the picture, like the early forms of “primitive” art, and the lower part, indicating the final stage of its modern evolution.

Experiencing the influence of Japanese engravings, Gauguin abandoned the modeling of forms, making the drawing and color more expressive. In his paintings, the artist began to emphasize the flat nature of the pictorial surface, only hinting at spatial relationships and decisively abandoning aerial perspective, building his compositions as a sequence of flat plans.

This resulted in the creation of synthetic symbolism. The new style developed by his contemporary and artist Emile Bernard made a strong impression on Gauguin. Perceived Gauguin Cloisonism, the basis of which was a system of bright color spots on the canvas, divided into several planes of different colors with sharp and bizarre contour lines, he used in his compositional painting “” (1888). Space and perspective completely disappeared from the picture, giving way to the color construction of the surface. Gauguin's color became bolder, more decorative and rich.

In a letter to Van Gogh in 1888, Gauguin wrote that in his painting both the landscape and the struggle of Jacob with the angel live only in the conjectures of the worshipers after the sermon. This is where the contrast arises between real people and fighting figures against the background of the landscape, which are disproportionate and unreal. Undoubtedly, by the struggling Jacob, Gauguin meant himself, constantly struggling with unfavorable life circumstances. Praying Breton women are indifferent witnesses to his fate - extras. The episode of the struggle is presented as an imaginary, dreamlike scene, which corresponds to the inclinations of Jacob himself, who in a dream imagined a ladder with angels.

He created his canvas after Bernard’s work, but this does not mean that the painting influenced him, since the general trend of Gauguin’s creative evolution and some of his earlier works indicate a new vision and the embodiment of this vision in painting.

Breton women Gauguin They do not at all look like saints, but the characters and types are conveyed quite specifically. But a state of self-absorption awakens in them. White caps with winged trains liken them to angels. The artist abandoned the transfer of volume, linear perspective, and built the composition completely differently. Everything is subordinated to one goal - the transmission of a certain thought.

The two titles of the painting indicate two different worlds represented on the canvas. Gauguin demarcated these worlds, dividing them compositionally with a powerful, thick tree trunk, diagonally crossing the entire canvas. Different points of view are introduced: the artist looks at the nearby figures slightly from below, at the landscape - sharply from above. Thanks to this, the surface of the earth is almost vertical, the horizon appears somewhere outside the canvas. There are no memories of linear perspective. A kind of “diving”, top-down “perspective” appears.

In the winter of 1888, Gauguin traveled to Arles and worked with Van Gogh, who dreamed of creating a brotherhood of artists. Gauguin's collaboration with Van Gogh reached its climax, ending in a falling out for both artists. After Van Gogh’s attack on the artist, the existential meaning of painting was revealed to Gauguin, which completely destroyed the closed system of cloisonnism that he had built.

After being forced to flee to a hotel from Van Gogh, Gauguin enjoyed working with real fire in Chaplain's Parisian pottery studio and created the most poignant dialogue from the life of Vincent Van Gogh - a pot with Van Gogh's face and a severed ear instead of a handle, along which streams of red glaze flow. Gauguin portrayed himself as an artist cursed, as a victim of creative torment.

After Arles, where Gauguin, contrary to Van Gogh’s wishes, refused to stay, he went from Pont-Aven to Le Pouldu, where his famous paintings with the Breton crucifix appear one after another, and then looks for himself in Paris, the tossing around which ends with his departure to Oceania from - for direct conflict with Europe.

In the village of Le Pouldu, Paul Gauguin painted his painting "" (1889). Gauguin I wanted to feel, according to him, the “wild, primitive quality” of peasant life, the maximum possible in solitude. Gauguin did not copy nature, but used it to paint imaginary images.

" is a clear example of his method: both perspective and naturalistic modulation of color are rejected, causing the image to resemble stained glass or Japanese prints that inspired Gauguin throughout his life.

The difference between Gauguin before his arrival in Arles and Gauguin after it is obvious from the example of the interpretation of the unpretentious and quite clear plot of "". “” (1888) is still permeated with the spirit of the epitaph, and the ancient Breton dance, with its emphasized archaism, inept and constrained movements of girls, fits perfectly with absolute immobility into the basis of a stylized composition of geometric figures. The little Bretons are two small miracles, frozen like two statues on the seashore. Gauguin wrote them the following year, 1889. On the contrary, they amaze with the compositional principle of openness and imbalance, which fills these figures sculpted from inanimate material with special vitality. Two idols, in the form of little Breton girls, blur the line between the real world and the otherworldly, which populate Gauguin’s subsequent paintings.

At the beginning of 1889 in Paris at the Café Voltaire during the XX World Exhibition in Brussels, Paul Gauguin shows seventeen of his canvases. The exhibition of works by Gauguin and the artists of his school, called by critics the “Exhibition of Impressionists and Synthetists,” was not successful, but it gave birth to the term “synthetism,” which combined the techniques of clausonism and symbolism, developing in the direction opposite to pointillism.

Paul Gauguin was deeply moved by the image of Christ, lonely, misunderstood and suffering for his ideals. In the understanding of the master, his fate is closely related to the fate of a creative person. By Gauguin, the artist is an ascetic, a holy martyr, and creativity is the way of the cross. At the same time, the image of the rejected master is autobiographical for Gauguin, because the artist himself was often misunderstood: the public - his works, the family - his chosen path.

The artist addressed the theme of sacrifice and the Way of the Cross in paintings representing the crucifixion of Christ and his removal from the cross - “” (1889) and “” (1889). The canvas “” depicts a wooden polychrome “Crucifixion” by a medieval master. At its foot, three Breton women bowed and stood frozen in positions of prayer.

At the same time, the stillness and majesty of the poses give them a resemblance to monumental stone sculptures, and the wounded figure of the crucified Christ with a face filled with sorrow, on the contrary, looks “alive.” The dominant emotional content of the work can be defined as tragically hopeless.

The painting “” develops the theme of sacrifice. It is based on the iconography of the Pietà. On a narrow high pedestal there is a wooden sculptural group with the scene of “The Lamentation of Christ” - a fragment of an ancient, green with time, medieval monument in Nizon. At the foot is a sad Breton woman, immersed in dark thoughts and holding a black sheep with her hand: a symbol of death.

The technique of “reviving” the monument and turning a living person into a monument is again used. Strict, frontal wooden statues of Myrrh-Bearing Women mourning the Savior, the tragic image of a Breton woman endow the canvas with a truly medieval spirit.

Gauguin painted a number of self-portraits - paintings in which he identified himself with the Messiah. One of these works is "" (1889). In it, the master depicts himself in three forms. In the center is a self-portrait where the artist looks gloomy and depressed. The second time his features are discerned is in the grotesque ceramic mask of a savage in the background.

In the third case, Gauguin is depicted in the image of the crucified Christ. The work is distinguished by its symbolic versatility - the artist creates a complex, multi-valued image of his own personality. He appears at the same time as a sinner - a savage, an animal, and a saint - a savior.

In the self-portrait "" (1889) - one of his most tragic works - Gauguin again compares himself with Christ, overcome by painful thoughts. The bent figure, drooping head and helplessly lowered hands express pain and hopelessness. Gauguin elevates himself to the level of the Savior, and presents Christ as a person not without moral torment and doubts.

“” (1889) looks even more daring, where the master presents himself in the image of a “synthetist saint.” This is a self-portrait - a caricature, a grotesque mask. However, not everything is so clear in this work. Indeed, for the group of artists who rallied around Gauguin in Le Pouldu, he was a kind of new Messiah, walking along the thorny path to the ideals of true art and free creativity. Behind the lifeless mask and feigned fun, bitterness and pain are hidden, so “” is perceived as the image of a ridiculed artist or saint.

In 1891, Gauguin painted a large symbolic canvas "" and, with the help of friends, prepared his first trip to Tahiti. The successful sale of his paintings in February 1891 allowed him to hit the road in early April.

On June 9, 1891, Gauguin arrived in Papeete and plunged headlong into the native culture. In Tahiti, he felt happy for the first time in many years. Over time, he became a champion of the rights of the local population and, accordingly, a troublemaker in the eyes of the colonial authorities. More importantly, he developed a new style called primitivism - flat, pastoral, often overly colorful, simple and spontaneous, absolutely original.

Now he uses a peculiar turn of bodies, characteristic of Egyptian paintings: a combination of a straight frontal turn of the shoulders with a turn of the legs in one direction and the head in the opposite direction, a combination with the help of which a certain musical rhythm is created: “ Market"(1892); the graceful poses of Tahitian women, immersed in dreams, move from one color zone to another, the wealth of colorful nuances creates the feeling of a dream spilled in nature: “” (1892), “” (1894).

With his life and work, he realized the project of earthly paradise. In the painting "" (1892) he depicted the Tahitian Eve in the pose of the reliefs of the Borobudur temples. Next to her, on a tree branch, instead of a snake, there is a fantastic black lizard with red wings. The biblical character appeared in an extravagant pagan guise.

On the canvases sparkling with colors, glorifying the beauty of the amazing harmony with the golden hue of people’s skin and the exoticism of pristine nature, there is always a thirteen-year-old life partner Tekhur, according to local concepts - a wife. Gauguin immortalized her on many canvases, including “ Ta matete" (Market), "", "".

He painted the young, fragile figure of Tehura, over whom the ghosts of his ancestors hover, instilling fear in the Tahitians, in the painting “” (1892). The work was based on real events. The artist went to Papeete and stayed there until the evening. Tehura, Gauguin's young Tahitian wife, became alarmed, suspecting that her husband was again staying with corrupt women. The oil in the lamp ran out, and Tehura lay in the dark.

In the painting, the girl lying on her stomach is copied from the reclining Tehura, and the evil spirit guarding the dead - tupapau - is depicted as a woman sitting in the background. The dark purple background of the painting gives a mysterious atmosphere.

Tehura was the model for several other paintings. So in the painting “” (1891), she appears in the guise of the Madonna with a baby in her arms, and in the painting “” (1893), she is depicted in the image of the Tahitian Eve, in whose hands a mango fruit replaced an apple. The artist’s elastic line outlines the girl’s strong torso and shoulders, her eyes raised to her temples, the wide wings of her nose and full lips. Tahitian Eve personifies the craving for the “primitive.” Its beauty is associated with freedom and closeness to nature, with all the secrets of the primitive world.

In the summer of 1893, Gauguin himself destroyed his happiness. The saddened Tehura sent Paul to Paris to show his new works and receive the small inheritance he had received. Gauguin began working in a rented workshop. The exhibition where the artist exhibited his new paintings failed miserably - the public and critics again did not understand him.

In 1894, Gauguin returned to Pont-Aven, but in a quarrel with sailors he broke his leg, as a result of which he could not work for some time. His young companion, a dancer at the Montmartre cabaret, leaves the artist in Brittany in a hospital bed and runs to Paris, taking the studio's property. In order to earn at least a little money for their departure, Gauguin’s few friends organize an auction to sell his paintings. The sale was unsuccessful. But in this short time he manages to create a wonderful series of woodcuts in a contrasting manner, which depict mysterious, fear-inducing Tahitian rituals. In 1895 Gauguin leaves France, now forever, and leaves for Tahiti in Punaauia.

But returning to Tahiti, no one was waiting for him. The former lover married someone else, Paul tried to replace her with thirteen-year-old Pakhura, who bore him two children. Lacking love, he sought solace with wonderful models.

Depressed by the death of his daughter Aline, who died in France from pneumonia, Gauguin falls into severe depression. The idea of ​​the meaning of life, human destiny permeates the religious and mystical works of this time, the distinctive feature of which is the plasticity of classical rhythms. It becomes more and more difficult for an artist to work every month. Pain in the legs, attacks of fever, dizziness, and gradual loss of vision deprived Gauguin of faith in himself and in the success of his personal creativity. In complete despair and hopelessness, Gauguin wrote some of his best works in the late 1890s. King's wife», « Motherhood», « Beauty Queen», « Never ever", "". Placing almost static figures on a flat color background, the artist creates decorative colorful panels where Maori legends and beliefs are reflected. In them, a poor and hungry artist realizes his dream of an ideal, perfect world.

Beauty Queen. 1896. Paper, watercolor

At the end of 1897, in Punaauia, about two kilometers from the Tahitian port of Papeete, Gauguin began creating his largest and most important painting. His wallet was nearly empty, and he was weakened by syphilis and debilitating heart attacks.

The large epic canvas "" can be called a condensed philosophical treatise and at the same time Gauguin's testament. " Where did we come from? Who are we? Where are we going?" - these extremely simple questions written Paul Gauguin in the corner of his brilliant Tahitian canvas, are in fact the central questions of religion and philosophy.

This is an extremely powerful picture in its impact on the viewer. In allegorical images, Gauguin depicted on it the troubles that await man, and the desire to discover the secrets of the world order, and the thirst for sensual pleasure, and wise calm, peace, and, of course, the inevitability of the hour of death. The famous post-impressionist sought to embody the path of each individual person and the path of civilization as a whole.

Gauguin knew that his time was running out. He believed that this painting would be his last work. Having finished writing it, he went to the mountains beyond Papeete to commit suicide. He took with him a bottle of arsenic that he had previously stored, probably not knowing how painful death from this poison was. He hoped to get lost in the mountains before taking the poison, so that his corpse would not be found, but would become food for ants.

However, the poisoning attempt, which brought terrible suffering to the artist, fortunately ended in failure. Gauguin returned to Punaauia. And although his vitality was running out, he decided not to give up. To survive, he took a job as a clerk at the Office of Public Works and Research in Papeete, where he was paid six francs a day.

In 1901, in search of even greater solitude, he moved to the small picturesque island of Hiva Oa in the distant Marquesas Islands. There he built a hut. On the door wooden beam of the hut Gauguin carved the inscription “Maison de Jouir” (“House of Delights” or “Abode of Fun”) and lived with fourteen-year-old Marie-Rose, while having fun with other exotic beauties.

Gauguin is happy with his “House of Pleasures” and his independence. “I would only like two years of health and not too many financial worries that always plague me...” the artist wrote.

But Gauguin’s modest dream did not want to come true. An indecent lifestyle further undermined his weakened health. Heart attacks continue, vision deteriorates, and there is constant pain in my leg that prevents me from sleeping. To forget and numb the pain, Gauguin consumes alcohol and morphine and is considering returning to France for treatment.

The curtain is ready to fall. In recent months it has been haunting Gauguin the chief police gendarme, accusing a Negro living in the valley of murdering a woman. The artist defends the black man and counters the accusations, accusing the gendarme of abuse of power. A Tahitian judge rules on Gauguin's three-month imprisonment for insulting a gendarme and a fine of one thousand francs. You can appeal the verdict only in Papeete, but Gauguin has no money for the trip.

Exhausted by physical suffering and driven to despair by the lack of money, Gauguin cannot concentrate to continue his work. Only two people are close and faithful to him: the Protestant priest Vernier and his neighbor Tioka.

Gauguin's consciousness is increasingly lost. He already finds it difficult to find the right words and confuses day with night. Early in the morning, May 8, 1903, Vernier visited the artist. The artist’s precarious condition did not last long that morning. After waiting for his friend to feel better, Vernier left, and at eleven o’clock Gauguin died, lying on his bed. Eugene Henri Paul Gauguin was buried in the Catholic cemetery of Khiva - Oa. Having died of heart failure, Gauguin’s works almost immediately sparked a crazy fashion in Europe. Prices for paintings have skyrocketed...

Gauguin won his place on the Olympus of art at the cost of his well-being and his life. The artist remained a stranger to his own family, to Parisian society, and a stranger to his era.

Gauguin had a heavy, slow, but powerful temperament and colossal energy. Only thanks to them was he able to wage a fierce struggle with life for life in inhumanly difficult conditions until his death. He spent his whole life in constant hard efforts to survive and preserve himself as an individual. He came too late and too early, that was the tragedy of the universal Gauguin's genius.

The first time he came to Tahiti to live, he was sick of France.
The second time Gauguin came here to die...

The temperamental painter was most attracted to women. In the evenings, Paul went to a native “ball” in the capital’s park, where a brass band played. Here is a description left by a contemporary: “Everywhere you see groups of island women in long white dresses, with thick flowing black hair, dark eyes and inviting sensual lips. Each has a magnificent white gardenia in her black hair; they sit comfortably on mats, fan themselves and smoke long Kanaka cigarettes. Barely visible in the semi-darkness, which is so conducive to flirting and intimate conversation, they accept compliments, praise and humorous remarks from men with the delightful charm inherent in these inhabitants of the tropics, so piquant thanks to their immorality, incredibly bold language and unbridled cheerfulness. >

According to the French writer Desfontaines, “it is impossible to please them, they always lack money, no matter how generous you are... Thinking about tomorrow and feeling gratitude - both are equally alien to Tahitians. They live only in the present, do not think about the future, do not remember the past. The most tender, most devoted lover is forgotten, as soon as he steps outside the threshold, forgotten literally the very next day. The main thing for them is to intoxicate themselves with songs, dances, alcohol and love”...

We must give justice to Gauguin - he was not tormented by such thoughts, did not fall in love, did not worry, and did not demand from the Tahitian ladies what they, by definition, could not give. Unable to settle under the skies of Polynesia with his beloved wife, Paul, as best he could, until the end of his days was consoled by physical love. On an island where since ancient times sexual freedom was complete and unlimited, where soldiers and traders from Europe gave money for what “Tahitian women in their home village gave free of charge to any unmarried man,” all that was left was to point a finger at the appropriate “product” and pay the agreed price those who were considered the guardians of this vahina.

Her name is Vairaumati. 1892. Moscow. State Museum of Fine Arts named after. A.S. Pushkin. He was happy: his work was easy; sixteen-year-old Tehura, a girl with a long dark face and wavy hair, was waiting in the hut; her parents paid very little for her. At night, a night light smoldered in the hut - Tehura was afraid of the ghosts waiting in the wings; in the morning he brought water from the well, watered the garden and stood at the easel. This life could go on forever... One day Tehura told Gauguin about a secret society that enjoyed exceptional influence on the islands - the Areoi society. The Areoi considered themselves adherents of the god Oro. Gauguin was seized by the idea of ​​painting a painting based on a plot from the legend of the god Oro. Gauguin titled the painting “Her name is Vairaumati.” Vairaumati sits on a bed of love, covered with luxurious fabrics, and on a low table at her feet lie fresh fruits - a treat for her lover. Behind her stands Oro wearing a red loincloth. In the depths of the picture there are two idols, a Tahitian relief invented by Gauguin, personifying love.

Taperaa Makhana - Early evening. 1892. Women sitting down to chat in the shade of the trees - a detail reflecting the peculiarities of village life in Tahiti: the village awakens from the heat of the day. In this detail the artist saw a characteristic embodiment of the slow rhythm of oceanic life. Gauguin's Tahitian women are inseparable from the nature against which they are presented. The walking women symbolize the change of two eras in Tahiti: the two Tahitian women on the right are dressed in dresses that are a curious mixture of Tahitian and European fashion; the third Tahitian woman walking towards the hut is wearing a traditional skirt. At first glance, this is a purely genre composition, woven from various details of everyday life. However, all its details do not provide any tangible genre entertainment. The main emphasis is not on the narrative temptations of the plot, but on the suggestive, suggestive power of pure color.

Manao Tupapau - The spirit of the dead is awake. 1892. Buffalo. Albright-Knox Art Gallery. The name "Manao Tupapau" has two meanings: "she thinks of the ghost" or "the ghost thinks of her." The reason for painting the canvas was the incident when Gauguin, having left on business in Papeete, returned late at night. By that time the oil in the lamp had run out and the house was shrouded in darkness. Paul struck a match and saw: a young girl-woman, numb with horror, trembling, clutching the bed. The natives were very afraid of ghosts and kept the lights on in their huts all night... Gauguin records this episode in his notebook - and adds matter-of-factly: “In general, this is just a nude from Polynesia.” The artist in him is always stronger than the lover or thinker...

In the manuscript of "Choses Diverses" there is a passage entitled "The Birth of a Picture": "Manao tupapau" - "The spirit of the dead is awake." "...A young Kanak girl lies on her stomach, revealing one side of her face, distorted with fear. She is resting on a bed decorated with a blue pareo and a yellow sheet painted in light chrome. The violet-purple background is dotted with flowers similar to electric sparks, the box is a somewhat strange figure. I was carried away by the form and movements; in drawing them, I had no other concern than to give a nude body, this is nothing more than a study of a naked body, a little immodest, and yet I wanted to create a chaste picture from it. , conveying the spirit of the Kanak people, their character and traditions.
Kanak is intimately connected with the “pareo” in his life; I used it as a bedspread. The bark sheet should be yellow because this color gives the audience a sense of something unexpected, because it gives the impression of lamplight, which saves me from having to introduce a real lamp. I need a background that is somewhat scary. The purple color is quite suitable.

Tahitian pastorals. 1892. Saint Petersburg. State Hermitage Museum. The painting, executed by the artist on the island of Tahiti, embodies the idyll of natural “primitive” life. In search of this harmony of the world, Gauguin went to Polynesia. The romantic dream was combined with impressions of exotic nature, the unique appearance of the islanders and their natural grace, mysterious beliefs and customs. One of the Tahitian girls plays the flute. The natives dedicated this music to the goddess of the Moon, Hina. The painting depicts the evening hour, when at sunset the time for ritual dances and music began in honor of Hina. Next to the dog is probably a vessel for sacrifices (small birds, etc.), hollowed out of a pumpkin. The pictorial structure of the painting - combinations of pure colors, rhythm of lines and color arrays - is in tune with the musical theme.

Petey Tiena - Two sisters. 1892. Saint Petersburg. State Hermitage Museum. Two Tahitian girls, sisters - perhaps the best images of children in Gauguin's painting, inspired, perhaps, by the memory of his own youngest daughter. The mysteriously conventional landscape background of this canvas contrasts with the holistic silhouette of the children's figures. Noble simplicity and monumentality are combined here with delicacy and even defenselessness characteristic of childhood. Looking at this picture, you involuntarily recall Gauguin’s statement about “women-girls”, whose eyes, piercing and pure, in their amazing stillness, have something ancient, sublime, religious.

Ea haere ia oe - Where are you going? (Woman holding a fruit). 1893. Saint Petersburg. State Hermitage Museum. The painting was executed in Polynesia, where the artist was led by a romantic dream of natural harmony of life. An exotic, mysterious world, unlike Europe. Impressions from the bright colors and lush vegetation of Oceania, from the appearance and way of life of the Tahitians became a source of inspiration for the painter. In an ordinary episode from the life of the islanders, the artist sees the embodiment of the eternal rhythm of life, the harmony of man and nature. The Tahitian woman standing in the foreground with a fruit in her hand is the Eve of this native paradise. Having abandoned the rules of traditional painting, and then the impressionistic manner, the master created his own style. The flattening of space, rhythmic repetitions of lines, shapes and color spots, pure colors laid in large masses create an enhanced decorative effect. The title of the painting is in the language of the Maori tribe, among whom Gauguin lived in Tahiti, “Eu haere ia oe” - translated as the formula of the Tahitian greeting “Where are you going?” A simple motif takes on an almost ritual solemnity - the pumpkin in which water was carried becomes a symbolic attribute of Eve of the Tahitian paradise. The artist freely combines rich rhythmic motifs on the plane; exquisite colors bring into the picture a feeling of sunlight, which materializes in the copper-swarthy body of the Tahitian woman, in her fiery red pareo.

Illness and poverty forced Gauguin to return to Paris in 1893. Two years later he returned to Tahiti. Gauguin's works of the second Tahitian period are similar to decorative frieze compositions.

An emerald green mountain rose above the shore, the blue sky overturned into the blue water of the lagoon, but the passengers of the Australian, dressed in identical white suits, saw only a miserable town that looked like a pile of plywood boxes scattered on the sand. They came here to make a fortune or make a career, and the man to whom this beauty was revealed sailed to Tahiti to die.

A scene from the life of the Tahitians. 1896. The painting was painted in Polynesia, where Gauguin’s dream of a primeval world led him. A certain episode from the life of the islanders is full of mystery. It is possible that its participants are watching some religious action that remains outside the image. The evening hour is the time of sacred rituals. The artist, who studied the ancient cults of the natives, often introduced motifs and symbols associated with Maori beliefs into his works. The poses of some of the characters are reminiscent of figures from the Parthenon frieze. Feeling the commonality of ancient cultures, the master turned to Egyptian and ancient monuments. The painter recreated the image of the original natural life in his own individual manner. Generalized spots of sonorous color, flattened space, rhythmic repetitions of lines create a magnificent decorative effect.

The king's wife. 1896. Saint Petersburg. State Hermitage Museum. The painting "The King's Wife" was painted by Gauguin during his second stay in Tahiti. The Tahitian Eve with a red fan behind her head, a sign of the royal family, near which the elders are talking about the tree of knowledge, is depicted in a pose that makes us remember Titian’s “Venus of Urbino” and Edouard Manet’s “Olympia”. A beast with glowing eyes creeping along the slope embodies the mystery hidden in the image of a woman. The leading role in the painting is played by color, which Gauguin interprets in a general, decorative way. In a letter to his friend Daniel de Monfred, the artist wrote: “... It seems to me that in terms of color I have never created a single thing with such a strong solemn sonority.”

In 1898, almost deprived of his livelihood, in complete despair, Gauguin tried to commit suicide.

Te awae no Maria - Month of Mary. 1899. Saint Petersburg. State Hermitage Museum. The painting was painted in Polynesia, during the last years of Gauguin’s life, which passed on the island of Tahiti. The main theme of the work is the blossoming of spring nature. In pre-Christian Europe, the beginning of May was marked by pagan holidays dedicated to its awakening. In the Catholic Church, May services are associated with the cult of the Virgin Mary. The natural rhythms of life are embodied on the canvas in the harmony of lines and colors, born of the artist’s impressions of the exotic world of Oceania and ancient Eastern cultures. Yellow is a particularly significant color in oriental art. The woman's pose is reminiscent of a figure from a temple relief on the island of Java, and her white robe is a symbol of purity among both Christians and Tahitians. The artist’s imagination, combining different religious ideas and beliefs, created an image of pristine life.

Women on the seashore (motherhood). 1899. Saint Petersburg. State Hermitage Museum. The painting was painted by the artist in the last years of his life on the island of Tahiti. In the exotic world of Oceania, where life retains its natural course, Gauguin leaves European civilization. The theme of motherhood arose more than once during the Polynesian period of the master’s work. The appearance of this work is associated with a specific event: the artist’s Tahitian lover, Pakhura, gave birth to his son in 1899. The real scene takes on the characteristics of a sacred ritual. The composition is reminiscent of scenes of child worship traditional in European religious painting. The central figure of a woman with flowers in prayerfully folded hands seems especially significant. The decorative effect is created by rhythmically organized arrays of color and repetitions of contours, characteristic of Gauguin’s individual style.

Three Tahitian women on a yellow background. 1899. Saint Petersburg. State Hermitage Museum. The painting was painted in Polynesia, where Gauguin spent the last years of his life. The artist’s imagination, combining impressions from Tahiti and ancient cultures, created mysterious, symbol-rich images of the exotic world. These images are not always decipherable. Perhaps there is an unsolved symbolic meaning in this work. At the same time, it is a decorative painting in which harmony of color spots and rhythmic lines has been achieved. The women's poses have a special grace and plasticity. The central one of the natives resembles the figure depicted on the relief of the Borobudur temple on the island of Java. The world of “savages” preserves the natural harmony that civilized Europe has lost.

Materials used:

Jean Perrier, CARAVAN OF STORIES magazine, January 2000.

Digital collection of the State Hermitage (St. Petersburg).

Gauguin was not a 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. He interweaves observations of the real life and way of life of the peoples of Oceania 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). Oil on canvas. 73.5 x 92 cm. Royal Museum of 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). Oil on canvas. 70.5 x 46.5 cm. New Carlsberg Glyptotek (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 an 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). Oil on canvas. 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 of a 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). Oil on canvas. 66 x 89 cm. State Museum of Fine Arts. 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? You're jealous!

P. Gauguin “Woman Holding a Fruit” (1893). Oil on canvas. 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 Gauguin’s young wife, Tahitian Tehura, served as her model.
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. Woman seems to be an integral part of nature.

P. Gauguin “Never Again” (1897). Oil on canvas. Courtauld Institute of Art (London)
The painting is one of the most famous paintings by Paul Gauguin, painted in Tahiti.
A naked Tahitian girl lies on a rich bed. She seems to be listening intently to something. In the background you can see a doorway, and in it 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). Oil on canvas. 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 turn to the basics of 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, “the old woman, approaching death, seems reconciled and given over to her thoughts,” at her feet “a strange white bird ... represents the uselessness of words.” The blue idol in the background represents the "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.