One of the names of Gauguin's field. Biography of Paul Gauguin and description of the artist’s paintings

Name: Paul Gauguin

Age: 54 years old

Activity: painter, sculptor, ceramicist, graphic artist

Family status: was married

Paul Gauguin: biography

He was a successful entrepreneur and in a few years managed to amass a large fortune, which would be enough to provide for his entire family - his wife and five children. But at one point this man came home and said that he wanted to exchange his boring financial employment for oil paints, brushes and canvas. Thus, he left the stock exchange and, carried away by what he loved, was left with nothing.

Now the post-impressionist paintings of Paul Gauguin are valued at more than one million dollars. For example, in 2015, the artist’s painting entitled “When is the wedding?” (1892), depicting two Tahitian women and a picturesque tropical landscape, was sold at auction for $300 million. But it turned out that during his lifetime the talented Frenchman, like his colleague, never received the recognition and fame he deserved. For the sake of art, Gauguin deliberately doomed himself to the existence of a poor wanderer and traded rich life to naked poverty.

Childhood and youth

The future artist was born in the city of love - the capital of France - on June 7, 1848, at that troubled time when the country of Cézanne and Parmesan was faced with political upheavals that affected the lives of all citizens - from unremarkable merchants to large entrepreneurs. Paul's father, Clovis, comes from the petty bourgeoisie of Orleans, who worked as a liberal journalist in the local newspaper National and scrupulously covered the chronicles of government affairs.

His wife Alina Maria was a native of sunny Peru, grew up and was brought up in a noble family. Alina’s mother and, accordingly, Gauguin’s grandmother, the illegitimate daughter of the nobleman Don Mariano and Flora Tristan, adhered to the political ideas of utopian socialism, became the author of critical essays and the autobiographical book “The Wanderings of the Party.” The union of Flora and her husband Andre Chazal ended sadly: the would-be lover attacked his wife and went to prison for attempted murder.

Due to political upheavals in France, Clovis, worried about the safety of his family, was forced to flee the country. In addition, the authorities closed the publishing house where he worked, and the journalist was left without a livelihood. Therefore, the head of the family, along with his wife and small children, went on a ship to Peru in 1850.

Gauguin's father was filled with good hopes: he dreamed of settling in a South American country and, under the auspices of his wife's parents, founding his own newspaper. But the man’s plans failed to come true, because during the journey Clovis unexpectedly died of a heart attack. Therefore, Alina returned to her homeland as a widow along with 18-month-old Gauguin and his 2-year-old sister Marie.

Paul lived until the age of seven in an ancient South American state, the picturesque mountainous outskirts of which excite the imagination of any person. Young Gauguin was an eye-catcher: at his uncle’s estate in Lima, he was surrounded by servants and nurses. Paul retained a vivid memory of that period of childhood; he recalled with pleasure the boundless expanses of Peru, the impressions of which haunted the gifted artist for the rest of his life.

Gauguin's idyllic childhood in this tropical paradise came to an abrupt end. Due to civil conflicts in Peru in 1854, prominent relatives on her mother's side lost political power and privileges. In 1855, Alina returned to France with Marie to receive an inheritance from her uncle. The woman settled in Paris and began to earn her living as a dressmaker, while Paul remained in Orleans, where he was raised by his paternal grandfather. Thanks to perseverance and work, in 1861 Gauguin’s mother became the owner of her own sewing workshop.

After several local schools Gauguin was sent to a prestigious Catholic boarding school (Petit Seminaire de La Chapelle-Saint-Mesmin). Paul was a diligent student, so he excelled in many subjects, but the talented young man was especially good at French.

When the future artist turned 14 years old, he entered the Parisian naval preparatory school and was preparing to enter the naval school. But, fortunately or unfortunately, in 1865 the young man failed the exams at the selection committee, so, without losing hope, he hired a ship as a pilot. Thus, young Gauguin set off on a journey across boundless expanses of water and throughout his time traveled to many countries, visited South America, the Mediterranean coast, and explored the northern seas.

While Paul was at sea, his mother died of illness. Gauguin remained in the dark about the terrible tragedy for several months, until a letter with unpleasant news from his sister overtook him on his way to India. In her will, Alina recommended that her son pursue a career, because, in her opinion, Gauguin, due to his obstinate disposition, would not be able to rely on friends or relatives in case of trouble.

Paul did not contradict his mother’s last wishes and in 1871 he went to Paris to begin an independent life. The young man was lucky because his mother's friend Gustave Arosa helped the 23-year-old orphaned guy get from rags to riches. Gustave, a stockbroker, recommended Paul to the company, due to which the young man received the position of broker.

Painting

The talented Gauguin succeeded in his profession, and the man began to have money. Over the course of a ten-year career, he became a respectable man in society and managed to provide his family with a comfortable apartment in the city center. Like his guardian Gustave Arosa, Paul began to buy paintings by famous impressionists, and in free time inspired by paintings Gauguin began to try his talent.

Between 1873 and 1874, Paul created the first vibrant landscapes that reflected Peruvian culture. One of the young artist’s debut works, “Forest Thicket in Viroff,” was exhibited at the Salon and received rave reviews from critics. Soon the aspiring master met Camille Pissarro, a French painter. Between these two creative people Warm friendships began, Gauguin often visited his mentor in the northwestern suburb of Paris - Pontoise.

The artist who hates social life and loving solitude, increasingly spending his free time drawing pictures, gradually the broker begins to be perceived not as an employee of a large company, but as a gifted artist. Gauguin's fate was largely influenced by his acquaintance with a certain original representative of the impressionist movement. Degas supports Paul both morally and financially, buying his expressive paintings.

In search of inspiration and a break from the bustling capital of France, the master packed his suitcase and set off on a trip. So he visited Panama, lived with Van Gogh in Arles, and visited Brittany. In 1891, remembering a happy childhood spent in his mother’s homeland, Gauguin left for Tahiti, a volcanic island whose vastness gives free rein to his imagination. He admired coral reefs, dense jungles where juicy fruits grow, and azure sea shores. Paul tried to convey everything he saw natural colors on canvases, due to which Gauguin’s creations turned out to be original and bright.

The artist observed what was happening around him and captured what he observed with a sensitive artistic eye in his works. So, the plot of the film “Are you jealous?” (1892) appeared before Gauguin’s eyes in reality. Having just bathed, two Tahitian sisters lay down in relaxed poses on the shore under the scorching sun. From the girl’s dialogue about love, Gauguin heard discord: “How? Are you jealous!". Paul later admitted that this painting is one of his favorite creations.

In the same 1892, the master painted the mystical canvas “The Spirit of the Dead Does Not Sleep,” made in dark, mysterious purple tones. The viewer sees a naked Tahitian woman lying on a bed, and behind her a spirit in a dark robe. The fact is that one day the artist’s lamp ran out of oil. He struck a match to illuminate the space, thereby frightening Tehura. Paul began to wonder if this girl could take the artist not for a person, but for a ghost or spirit, which the Tahitians are very afraid of. These mystical thoughts of Gauguin inspired him with the plot of the picture.

A year later, the master painted another picture called “Woman Holding a Fruit.” Following his style, Gauguin signs this masterpiece with a second, Maori, title Euhaereiaoe (“Where are [you] going?”). In this work, as in all of Paul’s works, man and nature are static, as if merging together. This painting was originally purchased by a Russian merchant; the work is currently on display State Hermitage. Among other things, the author of The Sewing Woman in the last years of his life wrote the book NoaNoa, published in 1901.

Personal life

In 1873, Paul Gauguin proposed marriage to the Danish woman Matte-Sophie Gad, who agreed and gave her lover four children: two boys and two girls. Gauguin adored his first-born Emil, who was born in 1874. Many of the master’s paintings of brushes and paints are decorated with the image of a serious boy, who, judging by the works, was fond of reading books.

Unfortunately, family life the great impressionist was not cloudless. The master’s paintings were not sold and did not bring in the income they once had, and the artist’s wife was not of the opinion that heaven was in the hut with her dear one. Due to the plight of Paul, who could barely make ends meet, quarrels and conflicts often arose between the spouses. After arriving in Tahiti, Gauguin married a young local beauty.

Death

While Gauguin was in Papeete, he worked very productively and managed to paint about eighty canvases, which are considered the best in his career. But fate was preparing talented man new obstacles. Gauguin failed to gain recognition and fame among admirers of creativity, so he plunged into depression.

Because of the dark streak that came in his life, Paul attempted suicide more than once. The artist’s state of mind gave rise to poor health; the author of “A Breton Village in the Snow” fell ill with leprosy. The great master died on the island on May 9, 1903 at the age of 54.

Unfortunately, as often happens, fame came to Gauguin only after his death: three years after the death of the master, his canvases were put on public display in Paris. In memory of Paul, the film “The Wolf on the Doorstep” was made in 1986, where the role of the artist was played by famous actor Hollywood. The British novelist also wrote biographical work“The Moon and a Penny,” where the prototype of the main character was Paul Gauguin.

Works

• 1880 – “Sewing Woman”
• 1888 – “Vision after the Sermon”
• 1888 – “Cafe in Arles”
• 1889 – “Yellow Christ”
• 1891 – “Woman with a Flower”
• 1892 – “The spirit of the dead does not sleep”
• 1892 - “Oh, are you jealous?”
• 1893 – “Woman Holding a Fruit”
• 1893 – “Her name was Vairaumati”
• 1894 – “The Evil Spirit’s Fun”
• 1897–1898 – “Where did we come from? Who are we? Where are we going?"
• 1897 – “Never Again”
• 1899 – “Collecting fruits”
• 1902 – “Still Life with Parrots”

At the beginning of his biography, Paul Gauguin was a sailor, later a successful stockbroker in Paris. In 1874 he began to paint, initially on weekends. By the age of 35, with the support of Camille Pissarro, Gauguin devoted himself entirely to art, abandoning his lifestyle, moving away from his wife and five children. Having established a connection with the Impressionists, Gauguin exhibited his work with them from 1879 to 1886. The next year he left for Panama and Maritinique. Fighting the “disease” of civilization, Gauguin decided to live by the principles primitive man. However, physical illness forced him to return to France. Paul Gauguin spent the following years in his biography in Paris, Brittany, making a short but tragic stop in Arles with van Gogh.

In 1888, Gauguin and Emile Bernard put forward a synthetic theory of art (symbolism), emphasizing planes and the reflection of light, non-natural colors in combination with symbolic or primitive objects. Gauguin's painting "The Yellow Christ" (Albright Gallery, Buffalo) is characteristic work for that period. In 1891, Gauguin sold 30 paintings, and then went to Tahiti with the proceeds. There he spent two years living in poverty, painted some of his last works, and also wrote Noa Noa, an autobiographical short story.

In 1893, Gauguin's biography included a return to France. He presented several of his works. With this, the artist renewed public interest, but earned very little money. Broken in spirit, sick with syphilis, which had been causing him pain for many years, Gauguin again moved to the southern seas, to Oceania. Gauguin spent the last years of his life there, where he suffered hopelessly and physically. In 1897, Gauguin tried to commit suicide, but failed. Then he spent another five years drawing. He died on the island of Hiva Oa (Marquesas Islands).

Today Gauguin is considered an artist who has had an extremely great influence on modern Art. He abandoned traditional Western naturalism, using nature as starting point to abstract figures and symbols. He emphasized linear patterns and striking color harmonies that imbued his paintings with a strong sense of mystery. Over the course of his life, Gauguin revitalized the art of woodblock printing, performing free, daring knife work, as well as expressive, non-standard forms, strong contrasts. In addition, Gauguin created several beautiful lithographs and pottery works.

Many works by Gauguin are presented in the United States, including “The Day of the God” (Art Institute of Chicago), “Ia Orana Maria” (1891, Metropolitan Museum of Art), “By the Sea” (1892, National Gallery, Washington), “Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?” (1897, museum artistic arts, Boston). William Somerset Maugham's The Moon and Sixpence (1919), based on events in Gauguin's life, did much to further the artist's legend, which arose shortly after his death.

The contradictory character of the French post-impressionist artist Paul Gauguin and his unusual fate created a special new reality in his works, where color plays a dominant role. Unlike the Impressionists, who attached significance to shadows, the artist conveyed his thoughts through a restrained composition, a clear outline of figures and color scheme. Gauguin's maximalism, his rejection of European civilization and restraint, increased interest in island cultures alien to Europe South America, the introduction of the new concept of “synthetism” and the desire to find a sense of heaven on earth allowed the artist to take his special place in the art world of the late 19th century.

From civilization to overseas countries

Paul Gauguin was born on June 7, 1848 in Paris. His parents were a French journalist, an adherent of radical republicanism, and a mother of French-Peruvian origin. After an unsuccessful revolutionary coup, the family was forced to move to their mother’s parents in Peru. The artist’s father died of a heart attack during the journey, and Paul’s family lived in South America for seven years.

Returning to France, the Gauguins settled in Orleans. Paul quickly became tired of the unremarkable life of a provincial town. Adventurous character traits led him to a merchant ship, and then to the navy, in which Paul visited Brazil, Panama, the islands of Oceania, and continued his travels from the Mediterranean to the Arctic Circle until he left the service. By this time, the future artist was left alone, his mother had died. Gustave Aroz took guardianship over him, and he employed Paul in a stock exchange firm. A decent income and success in a new field should have predetermined the life of a wealthy bourgeois for many years.

Family or creativity

At the same time, Gauguin met the governess Mette-Sophia Gard, who accompanied the wealthy Danish heiress. The governess's curvaceous figure, determination, laughing face and manner of speaking without deliberate timidity captivated Gauguin. Metta-Sophia Gad was not distinguished by sensuality, did not recognize coquetry, she behaved freely and expressed herself directly, which distinguished her from other young people. This repulsed many men, but on the contrary, it captivated the dreamer Gauguin. In self-confidence, he saw an original character, and the girl’s presence drove away the loneliness that tormented him. Metta seemed to him like a patroness, in whose arms he could feel as calm as a child. The offer of the wealthy Gauguin relieved Mette of the need to think about her daily bread. On November 22, 1873, the marriage took place. This marriage produced five children: a girl and four boys. Paul named his daughter and second son in honor of his parents: Clovis and Alina.

Could the young wife have thought that her wealthy, respectable life would be broken by the innocent brush of an artist in the hands of her husband, who one winter day would announce to her that from now on he would only engage in painting, and she and her children would be forced to return to relatives in Denmark.

From impressionism to synthetism

For Gauguin, painting was the path to liberation, the stock exchange was irretrievably lost time. Only in creativity, without wasting time on hated responsibilities, could he be himself. Having reached a critical point, having quit the stock exchange, which brought in a good income, Gauguin became convinced that everything was far from so simple. The savings melted away, the paintings did not sell, but the return to work on the stock exchange and the abandonment of the newfound freedom horrified Gauguin.

Uncertainly, gropingly, moving blindly, Gauguin tried to grasp the world of colors and shapes raging within him. Under the influence of Manet, he painted a number of still lifes at this time and created a series of works on the theme of the coast of Brittany. But the pull of civilization forces him to go to Martinique, participate in the construction of the Panama Canal, and recover from swamp fever in the Antilles.

The works of the island period become unusually colorful, bright, and do not fit into the framework of the canons of impressionism. Later, having arrived in France, Gauguin in Pont-Aven united artists into the school of “colored synthetism”, for which characteristic features were simplification and generalization of forms: the contour of the dark line was filled with a spot of color. This method gave the works expressiveness and at the same time decorativeness, making them very bright. It was in this manner that “Jacob Wrestling with the Angel” and “The Cafe in Arles” (1888) were written. This was all significantly different from the play of shadows, the play of light breaking through the foliage, the highlights on the water - all those techniques that are so characteristic of the impressionists.

After the failure of the exhibition of impressionists and "synthetics", Gauguin leaves France and goes to Oceania. The islands of Tahiti and Dominic fully corresponded to his dream of a world devoid of signs of European civilization. Numerous works of this period are distinguished by open solar brightness, conveying the rich colors of Polynesia. Techniques for stylizing static figures on a color plane turn compositions into decorative panels. The desire to live according to the laws of primitive man, without the influence of civilization, was stopped by a forced return to France due to poor physical health.

Fatal friendship

Gauguin spends some time in Paris, Brittany, and stays with Van Gogh in Arles, where a tragic incident occurs. Gauguin's enthusiastic admirers in Brittany unwittingly gave the artist the opportunity to treat Van Gogh from the position of a teacher. Van Gogh's exaltation and Gauguin's maximalism led to serious scandals between them, during one of which Van Gogh rushes at Gauguin with a knife and then cuts off part of his ear. This episode forces Gauguin to leave Arles and after some time return to Tahiti.

Looking for heaven on earth

A thatched hut, a remote village and a bright palette in the works, reflecting tropical nature: sea, greenery, sun. The canvases of this time depict Gauguin’s young wife, Tehura, whom her parents willingly gave in marriage at the age of thirteen.

A constant lack of money, health problems, and a serious venereal disease caused by promiscuous relationships with local girls forced Gauguin to return to France again. Having received an inheritance, the artist returned to Tahiti again, then to the island of Hiva Oa, where in May 1903 he died of a heart attack.

Three weeks after Gauguin's death, his property was inventoried and auctioned off for next to nothing. A certain “expert” from the capital of Tahiti simply threw away some of the drawings and watercolors. The remaining works were purchased at auction by naval officers. The most expensive work, “Motherhood,” went under the hammer for one hundred and fifty francs, and the appraiser generally showed “Breton Village in the Snow” upside down, giving it the name… “Niagara Falls.”

Post-Imresionist and innovator of synthetism

Along with Cézanne, Seurat and Van Gogh, Gauguin is considered the greatest master of post-impressionism. Having absorbed his lessons, he created his own unique artistic language, bringing it into history modern painting rejection of traditional naturalism, taking abstract symbols and figures of nature as a starting point, emphasizing striking and mysterious color weaves within a linear framework.

When writing the article, the following literature was used:
“Illustrated Encyclopedia of World Painting”, compiled by E.V. Ivanova
“Encyclopedia of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism”, compiled by T.G. Petrovets
“The Life of Gauguin”, A. Perruch

Marina Staskevich

"Self-Portrait" 1888

Gauguin Paul (1848–1903), French painter. In his youth he served as a sailor, and from 1871–1883 ​​as a stockbroker in Paris. In the 1870s, Paul Gauguin began painting, took part in impressionist exhibitions, and took advice from Camille Pissarro. From 1883 he devoted himself entirely to art, which led Gauguin to poverty, separation from his family, and wanderings. In 1886, Gauguin lived in Pont-Aven (Brittany), in 1887 - in Panama and on the island of Martinique, in 1888, together with Vincent van Gogh, he worked in Arles, in 1889-1891 - in Le Pouldu (Brittany). Rejection of contemporary society aroused Gauguin's interest in the traditional way of life and art. archaic Greece, countries of the Ancient East, primitive cultures. In 1891, Gauguin left for the island of Tahiti (Oceania) and after a short (1893–1895) return to France, he settled on the islands permanently (first on Tahiti, from 1901 on the island of Hiva Oa). Even in France, the search for generalized images, the mysterious meaning of phenomena (“Vision after the Sermon”, 1888, National Gallery Scotland, Edinburgh; “ Yellow Christ”, 1889, Albright Gallery, Buffalo) brought Gauguin closer to symbolism and led him and a group of young artists working under his influence to the creation of a unique painting system - “synthetism”, in which the cut-off modeling of volumes, light-air and linear perspectives are replaced by a rhythmic comparison of individual planes of pure color, which completely filled the shapes of objects and played a leading role in creating the emotional and psychological structure of the picture (“Cafe in Arles”, 1888, Pushkin Museum, Moscow). This system has received further development in paintings painted by Gauguin on the islands of Oceania. Depicting the lush full-blooded beauty of tropical nature, natural people unspoiled by civilization, the artist sought to embody the utopian dream of earthly paradise, about human life in harmony with nature (“Are you jealous?”, 1892; “The King’s Wife,” 1896; “Collecting Fruits,” 1899, all paintings in the Pushkin Museum, Moscow; “Woman Holding a Fruit,” 1893, Hermitage, St. Petersburg).

"Tahitian Landscape" 1891, Musée d'Orsay, Paris

"Two Girls" 1899, Metropolitan, New York

"Breton Landscape" 1894, Musée d'Orsay, Paris

"Portrait of Madeleine Bernard" 1888, Museum of Art, Grenoble

"Breton village in the snow" 1888, Museum of Art, Gothenburg

"Awakening the Spirit of the Dead" 1892, Knox Gallery, Buffalo

Gauguin's canvases, in terms of their decorative color, flatness and monumentality of composition, and the generality of the stylized design, similar to panels, bore many features of the Art Nouveau style that was emerging during this period, and influenced the creative searches of the masters of the “Nabi” group and other painters of the early 20th century. Gauguin also worked in the field of sculpture and graphics.

"Tahitian Women on the Beach" 1891

"Are you jealous?" 1892

"Women of Tahiti" 1892

"On the Coast" 1892

"Big Trees" 1891

"Never (Oh Tahiti)" 1897

"Saints' Day" 1894

"Vairumati" 1897

"When will you get married?" 1892

"By the Sea" 1892

"Alone" 1893

"Tahitian Pastorals" 1892

"Contes barbares" (Barbarian tales)

"Mask of Tehura" 1892, pua wood

"Merahi metua no Teha" amana (Ancestors of Teha "amana)" 1893

"Madame Mette Gauguin in Evening Dress"

In the summer at the end of the 80s of the last century, many French artists gathered in Pont-Aven (Brittany, France). They came together and almost immediately split into two hostile groups. One group included artists who embarked on the path of quest and were united by the common name “impressionists”. According to the second group, led by Paul Gauguin, this name was abusive. P. Gauguin was already under forty at that time. Surrounded by the mysterious aura of a traveler who had explored foreign lands, he had extensive life experience and admirers and imitators of his work.

Both camps were divided based on their position. While the Impressionists lived in attics or garrets, other artists occupied the best rooms of the Gloanek Hotel and dined in the largest and nicest hall of the restaurant, where members of the first group were not allowed. However, clashes between factions not only did not prevent P. Gauguin from working, on the contrary, they to some extent helped him realize those features that caused him a violent protest. The rejection of the analytical method of the impressionists was a manifestation of his complete rethinking of the tasks of painting. The desire of the impressionists to capture everything they saw, their very artistic principle - to give their paintings the appearance of something accidentally spotted - did not correspond to the imperious and energetic nature of P. Gauguin.

He was even less satisfied with the theoretical and artistic research of J. Seurat, who sought to reduce painting to the cold, rational use of scientific formulas and recipes. The pointillistic technique of J. Seurat, his methodical application of paint with cross strokes of the brush and dots irritated Paul Gauguin with its monotony.

The artist’s stay in Martinique among nature, which seemed to him a luxurious, fabulous carpet, finally convinced P. Gauguin to use only undecomposed color in his paintings. Together with him, the artists who shared his thoughts proclaimed “Synthesis” as their principle - that is, the synthetic simplification of lines, shapes and colors. The purpose of this simplification was to convey the impression of maximum color intensity and to omit everything that weakens such an impression. This technique formed the basis of the old decorative painting frescoes and stained glass.

P. Gauguin was very interested in the question of the relationship between color and paints. In his painting, he tried to express not the accidental and not the superficial, but the abiding and essential. For him, only the creative will of the artist was the law, and he saw his artistic task in the expression of inner harmony, which he understood as a synthesis of the frankness of nature and the mood of the artist’s soul, alarmed by this frankness. P. Gauguin himself spoke about it this way: “I do not take into account the truth of nature, visible externally... Correct this false perspective, which distorts the subject due to its truthfulness... You should avoid dynamism. Let everything breathe with you peace and peace of mind , avoid moving poses... Each of the characters should be in a static position." And he shortened the perspective of his paintings, bringing it closer to the plane, deploying the figures in a frontal position and avoiding foreshortening. That is why the people depicted by P. Gauguin are motionless in the paintings: they are like statues sculpted with a large chisel without unnecessary details.

Period mature creativity Gauguin's work began in Tahiti, and it was here that the problem of artistic synthesis received its full development. In Tahiti, the artist abandoned much of what he knew: in the tropics, forms are clear and definite, shadows are heavy and hot, and contrasts are especially sharp. Here all the tasks he set in Pont-Aven were resolved by themselves. P. Gauguin's paints become pure, without brushstrokes. His Tahitian paintings give the impression of oriental carpets or frescoes, so harmoniously the colors in them are brought to a certain tone.

"Who are we? Where do we come from? Where are we going?"

The work of P. Gauguin of this period (meaning the artist’s first visit to Tahiti) seems a wonderful fairy tale, which he experienced among the primitive, exotic nature of distant Polynesia. In the Mataye area, he finds a small village, buys himself a hut, on one side of which the ocean splashes, and on the other, a mountain with a huge crevice is visible. The Europeans had not yet reached here, and life seemed to P. Gauguin a real earthly paradise. It obeys the slow rhythm of Tahitian life, absorbs the bright colors of the blue sea, occasionally covered with green waves crashing noisily on the coral reefs.

From the first days, the artist established simple, human relations with the Tahitians. The work begins to captivate P. Gauguin more and more. He makes numerous sketches and sketches from life, in any case he tries to capture on canvas, paper or wood the characteristic faces of the Tahitians, their figures and poses - in the process of work or during rest. During this period he creates world-famous famous paintings“The spirit of the dead is awake”, “Oh, are you jealous?”, “Conversation”, “Tahitian pastorals”.

But if in 1891 the path to Tahiti seemed radiant to him (he was traveling here after some artistic victories in France), then the second time he went to his beloved island as a sick man who had lost most of his illusions. Everything along the way irritated him: forced stops, useless expenses, road inconveniences, customs quibbles, intrusive fellow travelers...

He had not been to Tahiti for only two years, and so much had changed here. The European raid destroyed the original life of the natives, everything seems to P. Gauguin an unbearable jumble: electric lighting in Papeete - the capital of the island, and unbearable carousels near the royal castle, and the sounds of a phonograph disturbing the former silence.

This time the artist stops in the Punoauia area, on west coast Tahiti, on a rented plot of land, he is building a house overlooking the sea and mountains. Hoping to firmly establish himself on the island and create conditions for work, he spares no expense in organizing his home and soon, as is often the case, he is left without money. P. Gauguin counted on friends who, before the artist left France, borrowed a total of 4,000 francs from him, but they were in no hurry to return them. Despite the fact that he sent them numerous reminders of his duty, complained about his fate and extremely plight...

By the spring of 1896, the artist finds himself in the grip of the most severe need. Added to this is the pain in his broken leg, which becomes covered in ulcers and causes him unbearable suffering, depriving him of sleep and energy. The thought of the futility of efforts in the struggle for existence, of the failure of all artistic plans makes him think more and more often about suicide. But as soon as P. Gauguin feels the slightest relief, the artist’s nature takes over in him, and pessimism dissipates before the joy of life and creativity.

However, they were rare moments, and misfortunes followed one after another with catastrophic regularity. And the most terrible news for him was the news from France about the death of his beloved daughter Alina. Unable to survive the loss, P. Gauguin took a huge dose of arsenic and went into the mountains so that no one could stop him. The suicide attempt led to him spending the night in terrible agony, without any help and completely alone.

For a long time the artist was in complete prostration and could not hold a brush in his hands. His only consolation was a huge canvas (450 x 170 cm), painted by him before his suicide attempt. He called the painting "Where do we come from? Who are we? Where are we going?" and in one of his letters he wrote: “Before I died, I put into it all my energy, such a sorrowful passion in my terrible circumstances, and a vision so clear, without correction, that traces of haste disappeared and all life was visible in it.”

P. Gauguin worked on the painting in terrible tension, although he had been nurturing the idea for it in his imagination for a long time, he himself could not say exactly when the idea of ​​this painting first arose. Individual fragments of this monumental work were written by him in different years and in other works. For example, the female figure from “Tahitian Pastorals” is repeated in this picture next to the idol, central figure fruit picker was encountered in the golden sketch “A Man Picking Fruit from a Tree”...

Dreaming of expanding the possibilities of painting, Paul Gauguin sought to give his painting the character of a fresco. To this end, he leaves the two upper corners (one with the title of the painting, the other with the artist’s signature) yellow and not filled with painting - “like a fresco damaged at the corners and superimposed on a wall of gold.”

In the spring of 1898, he sent the painting to Paris, and in a letter to the critic A. Fontaine said that his goal was “not to create a complex chain of ingenious allegories that would need to be solved. On the contrary, the allegorical content of the painting is extremely simple - but not in the sense of an answer to the questions posed, but in the sense of the very formulation of these questions.” Paul Gauguin was not going to answer the questions he put in the title of the picture, because he believed that they were and would be a terrible and the sweetest mystery for human consciousness. Therefore, the essence of the allegories depicted on this canvas lies in the purely pictorial embodiment of this mystery hidden in nature, the sacred horror of immortality and the mystery of existence.

On his first visit to Tahiti, P. Gauguin looked at the world with the enthusiastic eyes of a big child-people, for whom the world had not yet lost its novelty and lush originality. To his childishly exalted gaze, colors invisible to others were revealed in nature: emerald grass, sapphire sky, amethyst sun shadow, ruby ​​flowers and red gold of Maori skin. Tahitian paintings by P. Gauguin of this period glow with a noble golden glow, like the stained glass windows of Gothic cathedrals, and shimmer with regal splendor Byzantine mosaics, are fragrant with rich spills of colors.

The loneliness and deep despair that possessed him on his second visit to Tahiti forced P. Gauguin to see everything only in black. However, the master’s natural flair and his colorist’s eye did not allow the artist to completely lose his taste for life and its colors, although he created a gloomy canvas, painting it in a state of mystical horror.

So what does this picture actually contain? Like oriental manuscripts, which should be read from right to left, the content of the picture unfolds in the same direction: step by step the flow is revealed human life- from its origin to death, which carries the fear of non-existence.

In front of the viewer, on a large, horizontally stretched canvas, is depicted the bank of a forest stream, in the dark waters of which mysterious, indefinite shadows are reflected. On the other bank there is dense, lush tropical vegetation, emerald grasses, dense green bushes, strange blue trees, “growing as if not on earth, but in paradise.”

The tree trunks strangely twist and intertwine, forming a lacy network, through which in the distance one can see the sea with the white crests of coastal waves, a dark purple mountain on a neighboring island, a blue sky - “a spectacle of virgin nature that could be paradise.”

In the near shot of the picture, on the ground, free of any plants, a group of people is located around a stone statue of a deity. The characters are not united by any one event or common action, each is busy with his own and immersed in himself. The peace of the sleeping baby is guarded by a large black dog; "three women squatting, as if listening to themselves, frozen in anticipation of some unexpected joy. A young man standing in the center plucks a fruit from a tree with both hands... One figure, deliberately huge, contrary to the laws of perspective... raises his hand, looking in surprise at the two characters who dare to think about their fate."

Next to the statue, a lonely woman, as if mechanically, walks to the side, immersed in a state of intense, concentrated reflection. A bird is moving towards her on the ground. On the left side of the canvas, a child sitting on the ground brings a fruit to his mouth, a cat laps from a bowl... And the viewer asks himself: “What does all this mean?”

At first glance, it seems like everyday life, but besides direct meaning, each image carries a poetic allegory, a hint of the possibility of figurative interpretation. For example, the motif of a forest stream or spring water gushing out of the ground is Gauguin’s favorite metaphor for the source of life, the mysterious beginning of existence. The sleeping baby represents the chastity of the dawn of human life. A young man picking a fruit from a tree and women sitting on the ground to the right embody the idea of ​​the organic unity of man with nature, the naturalness of his existence in it.

A man with a raised hand, looking at his friends in surprise, is the first glimmer of concern, the initial impulse to comprehend the secrets of the world and existence. Others reveal the audacity and suffering of the human mind, the mystery and tragedy of the spirit, which are contained in the inevitability of man’s knowledge of his mortal destiny, the brevity of earthly existence and the inevitability of the end.

Paul Gauguin himself gave many explanations, but he warned against the desire to see generally accepted symbols in his painting, to decipher the images too straightforwardly, and even more so to look for answers. Some art critics believe that the artist’s depressed state, which led him to attempt suicide, was expressed in a strict, laconic artistic language. They note that the picture is overloaded small details, which do not clarify the general concept, but only confuse the viewer. Even the explanations in the master’s letters cannot dispel the mystical fog that he put into these details.

P. Gauguin himself regarded his work as a spiritual testament, perhaps that is why the painting became a pictorial poem, in which specific images were transformed into a sublime idea, and matter into spirit. The plot of the canvas is dominated by a poetic mood, rich in subtle shades and inner meaning. However, the mood of peace and grace is already shrouded in a vague anxiety of contact with the mysterious world, giving rise to a feeling of hidden anxiety, the painful unsolvability of the hidden mysteries of existence, the mystery of a person’s coming into the world and the mystery of his disappearance. In the picture, happiness is darkened by suffering, spiritual torment is washed by the sweetness of physical existence - “golden horror, covered with joy.” Everything is inseparable, just like in life.

P. Gauguin deliberately does not correct incorrect proportions, striving at all costs to preserve his sketch style. He valued this sketchiness and unfinishedness especially highly, believing that it is precisely this that brings a living stream into the canvas and imparts to the picture a special poetry that is not characteristic of things that are finished and overly finished.

"Still life"

"Jacob Wrestling with the Angel" 1888

"Loss of virginity"

"Mysterious Spring" (Pape moe)

"The Birth of Christ the Son of God (Te tamari no atua)"

"Yellow Christ"

"Month of Mary"

"Woman Holding a Fruit" 1893

“Cafe in Arles”, 1888, Pushkin Museum, Moscow

"The King's Wife" 1896

"Yellow Christ"

"White horse"

"Idol" 1898 Hermitage

"Dream" (Te rerioa)

"Poimes barbares (Barbarian poems)"

"Good afternoon, Mr. Gauguin"

"Self-portrait" approx. 1890-1899

"Self-Portrait with Palette" Private collection 1894

"Self-Portrait" 1896

"Self-portrait on Calvary" 1896

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 the one creative personality who learns new things on the fly, constantly educating herself. But he perceived what he saw in his own way, subconsciously introducing 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 Gauguin's life and is the starting point for the formation of the image of the artist that 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 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 group painters - followers of Gauguin, united around Sérusier, will 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 new visual means that allow us to look at the world around us in a different way, with which we are all creative quest artist.

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 the comparison " different eras" of pictorial culture - the upper part of the picture is noticeably coarser and simplified, similar to 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 refusing aerial perspective, building his compositions as a sequence of flat plans.

This resulted in the creation of synthetic symbolism. Exhausted a new style his contemporary and artist Emile Bernard inspired Gauguin strong impression. 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 devoted to damnation, 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 canvases 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 completely 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 from geometric shapes. 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 rise 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 master's understanding, his fate is closely related to fate 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.

On the topic of sacrifice and way of the cross the artist painted 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 froze in prayerful poses.

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 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. This is his first time in Tahiti. long years felt happy. 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 a 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 canvases sparkling with colors, glorifying the beauty of amazing harmony with the golden hue of human skin and the exotic. pristine nature, the thirteen-year-old life partner Tekhur is invariably present, 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 his 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. Thought about the meaning of life human destiny permeates the religious and mystical works of this time, distinctive feature which becomes 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», « Queen of beauty», « Never ever", "". Placing almost static figures on a flat color background, the artist creates decorative colorful panels in which Maori legends and beliefs are reflected. In them, a poor and hungry artist realizes his dream of an ideal, perfect world.

Queen of beauty. 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 almost 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 actually central issues 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 calmness, 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 picture would be his last job. 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 a 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.