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 > From Bourgeois to Rebel > The Pont-Aven Period > Nature and Primitivism
dimarts, 6 de maig de 2003
This May 8 will mark the 100th anniversary of the death of Paul Gauguin, the French painting master, who along with the Dutchman, Vincent van Gogh, is considered one of the fathers of modern art.
Gifted with an extraordinary creativity, Gauguin (1848-1903), belongs to the pictorial movement known as Neoimpressionism. These were a group of artists that aspired to go beyond the Impressionist style in vogue during the second half of the 19th century and create works of greater expression that portrayed the feelings and emotions of the artist. And Gauguin certainly achieved this expression. He was the pioneer of a symbolist style of painting, developing the technique of Synthetism, and influenced several schools of painting including Expressionism and especially, Fauvism. But in order to achieve this, as we shall find out in this edition, Gauguin had to break with everything he knew, with the comfortable, middle-class life that characterized the early part of his life. What's interesting is that losing the job that had allowed him to build and support large family without worrying about money was what enabled him to develop his vocation as an artist. Even from an early age he had been fascinated by the world of painting. Gauguin abandoned everything –country, family and friends– and embarked for the South Sea Islands, to Polynesia, which was then under French rule, where he found inspiration for his artistic potential. If van Gogh's source of inspiration was the midday Mediterranean light in France, Gauguin's was the pure, virgin lands of the Far Pacific. And his work vastly evidences his virtuosity, which includes 'Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?' 'La Orana Maria (Hail Mary)', 'Nevermore', 'Barbarous Tales', and 'And the Gold of Their Bodies' to name only a few master works.
 
From Bourgeois to Rebel
+ Paul Gauguin became a rebel artist.
At the beginning of the 1880s, no one would have predicted the spectacular turn Gauguin's life was about to take. Married with children, he led a charmed life, thanks to a profitable position as a broker's agent. He kept the company of the Impressionist painters that ruled the arts scene in the French capital, such as Camille Pissarro and Paul Cezanne. It was even at their side, and under their tutelage, that he began to paint, taking classes and visiting the Louvre Museum assiduously. But starting in 1882, everything began to go south. That was the year the stock market plummeted and Gauguin lost his job. Up to that point, only one aspect of Gauguin's dual personality had manifested: the responsible father, conformist and bourgeouis. The other facet had only been expressed in his love of adventure and travel. But after 1882, destiny favored his flowing along the more romantic, non-conformist, and bohemian vein, a direction that would eventually lead him to become one of the most important painters of the latter 19th century.
The Pont-Aven Period)
+ 'Madeleine Bernard' was painted by Gauguin in Port-Aven.
The loss of his stock exchange job effectively marks Paul Gauguin's rupture with the comfortable and bourgeois life he had led up to that point. The first step was his move to Pont-Aven, Brittany, which was to have been permanent. Fleeing from his family, which he had left behind in his wife's native country of Denmark, and besieged by economic penalties, Gauguin sought refuge in the beautiful and rough terrain of the Atlantic coast, 'where life cost virtually nothing'. It was in Pont-Aven that he began feverishly dedicating himself to painting, to such a degree that he became the mentor and teacher of the so-called Pont-Aven School. These were a group of young artists that sought to break with the Impressionism dominating Paris and explore their own style, one that exhibited greater expressiveness. Even if his time there was brief, Gauguin was like a fish in water. Far away from the bourgeois culture he increasingly grew to hate, in this pure land he had the freedom to exercise his developing mastery. In the company of Emile Bernard, Charles Laval, Armand Seguin, Paul Sérusier, he painted a series of pictures that have become known in posterity as 'Breton Children Dancing' and 'Madeleine Bernard'.
Nature and Primitivism)
+ 'Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?' is Gauguin's ultimate masterpiece.
Gauguin was not able to find the definitive rupture he sought from his surroundings on the Breton coast. Nor did he have any success in any other region of France, nor the European continent. It was only on the other side of the world that he was finally able to reclaim his free spirit: in Polynesia, specifically in Tahiti in the Marquesa Islands. It was in this earthly paradise with its virginal landscapes free from any 'contamination from civilization' that the artist painted his best works, including the 'Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?' and the enigmatic 'Spirit of The Dead Watching'. Gauguin was fascinated by Polynesian folklore and myths and the apparently ingenious nature of its natives. It was in this environment that he was able to develop the styles of primitivism and symbolism, which consisted in the use of stylized figures and shocking colors which later brought him fame. Yet in spite of everything, he didn't achieve the happiness he sought. Obstacles came in the form of disputes with the French authorities in control of the Pacific islands, who viewed his defense of the natives with suspicion, as well as the contempt he experienced as a result of the lack of artistic recognition in his French homeland.
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Investiga
> Paul Gauguin és considerat un dels màxims representants del simbolisme. Saps quins trets defineixen aquest corrent pictòric? Cerca-ho aquí.
> Paul Gauguin, un dels precursors de l'art modern, va inspirar els fauvistes. Qui és el màxim representant del fauvisme? La resposta, en aquesta pàgina.
> El quadre de Gauguin 'D'on venim? Qui som? On anem?' és un dels més coneguts i més valorats. Si el vols admirar, clica aquesta adreça. Què en destacaries?
> Paul Gauguin va passar les darreries de la seva vida a la Polinèsia, concretament a Tahití i a les illes Marqueses. Situa-les totes en aquest mapa d'Oceania.
I també...
- Paul Gauguin i Vincent van Gogh van sostenir una relació personal intensa, però problemàtica. Aquest espai interactiu et permetrà de saber-ne els detalls. Segueix les instruccions que s'hi indiquen.
- Paul Gauguin era nét de Flora Tristan, pionera de les idees socialistes i feministes. Si vols aprofundir en la vida de l'àvia de Gauguin, clica aquesta pàgina biogràfica.
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