Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin was a French painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramist, and writer, whose work has been primarily associated with the Post-Impressionist and Symbolist movements. He was also an influential practitioner of wood engraving and woodcuts as art forms. While only moderately successful during his lifetime, Gauguin has since been recognized for his experimental use of color and Synthetist style that were distinct from Impressionism.
Vision after the Sermon (Jacob Wrestling with the Angel) is an oil painting by French artist Paul Gauguin, completed in 1888. It is now in the Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh. It depicts a scene from the Bible in which Jacob wrestles an angel.
In the early part of his career as a painter, Gauguin had painted primarily landscapes en plein air in the Impressionist manner. By 1888, he had become dissatisfied with Impressionism, which did not satisfy his enthusiasm for archaic and primitive forms or his interest in the mystical. Background →
The use of color, shape, and line in Vision After the Sermon is appreciated for its bold manner of handling paint. Finding inspiration in Japanese woodblock prints from Hiroshige and Hokusai, which he owned, Gauguin developed the idea of non-naturalistic landscapes. Composition and technique →
Vincent van Gogh Painting Sunflowers
188873 × 91 cmVan Gogh Museum
Vincent van Gogh Painting Sunflowers also known as The Painter of Sunflowers is a portrait of Vincent van Gogh by Paul Gauguin. Van Gogh is depicted sitting before an easel, presumably painting his "Sunflower" series. The work, which is a piece from Gauguin's "Arles Period", was created in Arles, France, in December, 1888.
The portrait was painted when Gauguin lived with Van Gogh in Arles. Van Gogh had asked Gauguin to stay with him and form an art colony that he referred to as "The Studio of the South". Background →
The painting shows Van Gogh working in what he called "The Yellow House", and it includes recognizable features of other notable works. For example, the blue walls in the painting are also visible in Van Gogh's Bedroom in Arles, and the chair Van Gogh is seated in is likely the same as the one depicted in the painting Van Gogh's Chair. Composition →
Gauguin's early work was still indebted to the Impressionist style, an artistic movement that centered around painting from observation and capturing transient moments. From his time in Arles, however, Gauguin's work is considered to be Post-Impressionist, due to its developed individual style and departure from observed appearances. Style and influences →
The Yellow Christ
188992 × 73 cmBuffalo AKG Art Museum
The Yellow Christ is a painting executed by Paul Gauguin in 1889 in Pont-Aven. Together with The Green Christ, it is considered to be one of the key works of Symbolism in symbolic mythological paintings of the older era as represented by Symbolism.
The Green Christ
188992 × 74 cmRoyal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium
The Green Christ is an oil-on-canvas painting executed by Paul Gauguin on November 20, 1889 in Pont-Aven, Brittany. It depicts a Breton woman at the foot of a calvary, or green-tinted sculpture of Christ's crucifixion. This image emphasizes both Breton culture and religious symbolism.
Gauguin created this work while living in Pont-Aven, Brittany. Topographically, the site depicted is the Atlantic coast at Le Pouldu. Background & cultural context →
The Green Christ depicts a Breton woman kneeling at the foot of a green crucifix. This woman wears traditional, modest Breton clothing and holds a black lamb in her left hand. Composition & style →
Rather than striving for realism, Gauguin sought to convey emotionally the condition of human suffering through non-naturalistic form and color. Interpretation & symbolism →
Tahitian Women on the Beach
189069 × 92 cmMusée d'Orsay
Tahitian Women on the Beach is an oil painting by the French artist Paul Gauguin. Depicting two Tahitian women, this piece is one of a series of works completed by Gauguin during his first stay on the Pacific island chain. Enamored by the environment and people of the islands and their separation from European cultural and aesthetic attitudes, Gauguin portrays two figures shrouded in the mystery and symbolism of Tahiti's paradise.
The painting was constructed towards the conclusion of the artist's first trip to Tahiti (1891–1893). Gauguin had travelled to the French Colony in search of what he described as "ecstasy, calm, and art," away from European materialism. Context →
The piece depicts two Tahitian women sitting statically in a state of aloof indolence. Although a topic of debate amongst art historians, the title is misleading in that the two women may not be on the beach. Composition and analysis →
Parau api, completed in 1892, is a variant reproduction of Tahitian Women on the Beach. Gauguin was reportedly enraged when Parau api was sold, and the work underscores how important Tahitian Women on the Beach was to him. Parau Api (What News?) →
Ia Orana Maria
1891114 × 88 cmMetropolitan Museum of Art
Ia Orana Maria (Hail Mary) is an 1891 oil-on-canvas painting by the French artist Paul Gauguin, now housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Created shortly after the artist’s arrival in Tahiti, it is considered one of the earliest and most emblematic works of his Tahitian period. In the composition, two Polynesian women greet a Tahitian mother and child, whom Gauguin deliberately reimagines within the Christian framework of the Madonna and Child while situating them in a distinctly local setting.
Gauguin’s inventive reworking of religious iconography blends Catholic motifs with Tahitian forms, while foreground elements anchor the scene in the local environment and add a tangible, exotic texture to the painting. Description →
Paul Gauguin painted la Orana Maria in 1891 during his first stay in Tahiti, where he sought what he imagined to be an untouched, “primitive” world in contrast to European modernity. Context →
la Orana Maria illustrates various elements of traditional Christian iconography through a Tahitian lens. The painting has been interpreted as a version of the biblical episode of the Annunciation, with the angel signaling the presence of the Madonna and Child. Religious symbolism and interpretations →
When Will You Marry? is an oil painting from 1892 by the French Post-Impressionist artist Paul Gauguin. On loan to the Kunstmuseum in Basel, Switzerland for nearly a half-century, it was sold privately by the family of Rudolf Staechelin to Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad Al-Thani, in February 2015 for close to US$210 million, one of the highest prices ever paid for a work of art. The painting was on exhibition at the Fondation Beyeler, Riehen, until 28 June 2015.
Gauguin travelled to Tahiti for the first time in 1891. His hope was to find "an edenic paradise where he could create pure, 'primitive' art", rather than the primitivist faux works being turned out by painters in France. History →
Manaò tupapaú
189272 × 92 cmBuffalo AKG Art Museum
Spirit of the Dead Watching (Manao tupapau) is an 1892 oil on burlap canvas painting by Paul Gauguin, depicting a nude Tahitian girl lying on her stomach. An old woman is seated behind her. Gauguin said the title may refer to either the girl imagining the ghost, or the ghost imagining her.
The painting was among the eight canvases Gauguin sent for exhibition at Copenhagen in 1893. He evidently prized it highly, for in his letter to Monfreid quoted above he said he wanted to reserve it for a later sale, although he would let it go for 2,000 francs. History →
Gauguin was an admirer of Édouard Manet's 1863 Olympia. He had seen it exhibited at the 1889 Exposition Universelle and commented in a review, "La Belle Olympia, who once caused such a scandal, is esconced there like the pretty woman she is, and draws not a few appreciative glances". Relation to Édouard Manet's Olympia →
Aha Oe Feii?
189266 × 89 cmPushkin Museum of Fine Arts
Aha Oe Feii? or Are You Jealous? is an oil-on-canvas painting by Paul Gauguin from 1892, based on a real-life episode during his stay on Tahiti which he later described in the diary Noa Noa: "On the shore two sisters are lying after bathing, in the graceful poses of resting animals; they speak of yesterday's love and tomorrow's conquests. The recollection causes them to quarrel, "What? Are you jealous?" Gauguin titled the painting in Tahitian language, Aha Oe Feii?, in the lower left corner of the canvas.
Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?
1897139 × 375 cmMuseum of Fine Arts Boston
Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? is an 1897–98 painting by French artist Paul Gauguin.
Gauguin had been a student at the Petit Séminaire de La Chapelle-Saint-Mesmin, just outside Orléans, from the age of eleven to the age of sixteen. His studies there included a class in Catholic liturgy; the teacher for this class was the Bishop of Orléans, Félix-Antoine-Philibert Dupanloup. Background →
The three major groups in the painting reflect the overall themes presented in the title. Details and analysis →
The painting is an accentuation of Gauguin's trailblazing Post-Impressionistic style; his art stressed the vivid use of colors and thick brushstrokes, while it aimed to convey an emotional or expressionistic strength. It emerged in conjunction with other avant-garde movements of the twentieth century, including Cubism and Fauvism. Style →
