Paul Gauguin was born in
Paris, France to journalist Clovis Gauguin and half-
Peruvian Aline Maria Chazal, the daughter of
socialist leader
Flora Tristan. In
1851 the family left Paris for
Peru, motivated by the political climate of the period. Clovis died on the voyage, leaving three-year old Paul, his mother and his sister to fend for themselves. They lived for four years in
Lima, Peru with Paul's uncle and his family. The imagery of Peru would later influence Paul in his art.
At the age of seven, Paul and his family returned to France. They moved to
Orléans, France to live with his grandfather. He soon learned
French and excelled in his studies. At seventeen, Gauguin signed on as a pilot's assistant in the
merchant marine to fulfill his required military service. Three years later, he joined the
navy where he stayed for two years. In
1871, Gauguin returned to Paris where he secured a job as a
stockbroker. In
1873, he married a
Danish woman, Mette Sophie Gad. Over the next ten years, they would have five children.
Gauguin had been interested in art since his childhood. In his free time, he began painting. He would also frequent galleries and purchase work by emerging artists. Gauguin formed a friendship with artist
Camille Pissarro, who introduced him to various other artists. As he progressed in his art, Gauguin rented a studio, and showed paintings in
Impressionist exhibitions held in
1881 and
1882. Over two summer vacations, he painted with Pissarro and occasionally
Paul Cézanne.
By
1884 Gauguin had moved with his family to
Copenhagen, where he pursued a business career as a
stockbroker. Driven to paint full-time, he returned to Paris in
1885, leaving his family in
Denmark. Without adequate subsistence, his wife (Mette Sophie Gadd) and their five children returned to her family. Gauguin outlived two of his children.
Like his friend
Vincent Van Gogh, with whom in
1888 he spent nine weeks painting in
Arles, Paul Gauguin experienced bouts of
depression and at one time attempted
suicide. Disappointed with
Impressionism, he felt that traditional European painting had become too imitative and lacked symbolic depth. By contrast, the art of
Africa and
Asia seemed to him full of mystic symbolism and vigour. There was a vogue in Europe at the time for the art of other cultures, especially that of Japan (Japonisme). He was invited to participate in the
1889 exhibition organized by
Les XX.
Under the influence of
folk art and
Japanese prints, Gauguin evolved towards
Cloisonnism, a style given its name by the critic
Édouard Dujardin in response to
Emile Bernard's cloisonne enamelling technique. Gauguin was very appreciative of Bernard's art and of his daring with the employment of a style which suited Gauguin in his quest to express the essence of the objects in his art. In
The Yellow Christ (
1889), often cited as a quintessential Cloisonnist work, the image was reduced to areas of pure colour separated by heavy black outlines. In such works Gauguin paid little attention to classical perspective and boldly eliminated subtle gradations of colour, thereby dispensing with the two most characteristic principles of post-
Renaissance painting. His painting later evolved towards "Synthetism" in which neither form nor colour predominate but each has an equal role.
In
1891, Gauguin, frustrated by lack of recognition at home and financially destitute, sailed to the tropics to escape European civilization and "everything that is artificial and conventional." (Before this he had made several attempts to find a tropical paradise where he could 'live on fish and fruit' and paint in his increasingly primitive style, including short stays in Martinique and as a labourer on the
Panama Canal construction, however he was dismissed from his job after only two weeks). Living in Mataiea Village in
Tahiti, he painted "
Fatata te Miti" ("By the Sea"), "
Ia Orana Maria" (Ave Maria) and other depictions of Tahitian life. He moved to
Punaauia in
1897, where he created the masterpiece painting "
Where Do We Come From" and then lived the rest of his life in the
Marquesas Islands, returning to France only once, when he painted at
Pont-Aven. His works of that period are full of quasi-religious symbolism and an exoticized view of the inhabitants of Polynesia. In Polynesia he sided with the native peoples, clashing often with the colonial authorities and with the Catholic Church. During this period he also wrote the book
Avant et après (before and after), a fragmented collection of observations about life in Polynesia, memories from his life and comments on literature and paintings. In 1903, due to a problem with the church and the government, he was sentenced to three months in prison, and charged a fine. At that time he was being supported by the art dealer
Ambroise Vollard He died of
syphilis before he could start the prison sentence. His body had been weakened by alcohol and a dissipated life. He was 54 years old.
Gauguin died in 1903 and is buried in
Calvary Cemetery (Cimetière Calvaire),
Atuona, Hiva ‘Oa, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia.
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