1. Paul Gauguin 1848-1903

2. Early life of Gauguin Paul Gauguin was a stockbroker living in Paris. In his spare time painted and became involved with the Impressionists, exhibiting at 5 of their shows. In 1883, at the age of 34 he left his job, his wife and his five children to follow his dream of being a painter. He was great friends with Pissarro.

3. Gauguin in Brittany,1886-1888 In 1886 he moved to Brittany to paint and escape civilisation. Here people tended to flock around him and he gained the role of a master. He was eccentric, self centred and moody and these were seen as signs of genius.

4. Paris-Central America 1887 Gauguin had spent some time in Peru as a young Child which may explain his interest in exotic places. In 1887 he travelled to Panama in Central America and Martinique in the Caribbean to paint. He wanted to experience a primitive culture. However he returned from here ill and disappointed.

5. Back again to Pont Aven, Brittany,Feburary,1888. Back in Pont Aven he began to paint in a new Style influenced by 1. Cezanne 2. Japanese Prints (he saw as simple and composed)

6. Gauguins new style 1. Didnt paint too closely from nature rather drew ideas from it. 2. Shapes became flat areas surrounded by strong outlines. 3. Used only the boldest/strongest colours from Nature. 4. No shadows 5. No Linear Perspective.

7. Didnt paint too closely from nature rather drew ideas from it.

8. Shapes became flat areas surrounded by strong outlines.

9. Used only the boldest/strongest colours from Nature.

10. No shadows No Linear Perspective

11. Vision after the Sermon. We will now study in detail what is said to be Gauguins first Masterpiece, Vision after the Sermon, Jacob Wrestling with the Angel. This painting is a clear indication of his change in style and the influence of Japanese Prints, Cezanne and Artists like the symbolists.

12. Vision after the Sermon1888

13. Vision after the sermon, 1888. Subject matter Gauguin was impressed by the simple faith of these Breton women. It is not a religious picture so much as a picture about religious people. He attempts to show the strength of their faith.

14. Vision after the Sermon, 1888. Subject matter The scene was inspired by the piety of these peasant women and their response to a sermon they have just heard, which causes them to have a vision about the struggle between good and evil. The scene could be described as anti – naturalistic as it is based on the womans vision of Jacob wrestling the angel.

15. Vision after the sermon, 1888. Theme It represents not only Jacobs struggles as seen in the minds of the pious Bretons, but Gauguins own struggle, in trying out a new painting technique and style to convey his new ideals.

16. Vision after the sermon, 1888.

17. Composition The women form a curve on the lower left of the painting making a continuous line by their white caps and dark dresses.

18. Vision after the sermon, 1888. Composition This is counter- balanced by the strong diagonal of the tree trunk. Its leaves lead the viewer to the upper right hand corner of the canvas, hence creates a frame for the focal point of the painting, the womens vision.

19. Vision after the sermon, 1888. Composition The diagonal sweep of the apple tree a pictorial device borrowed from Japanese art. It divides the real from the imaginary.

20. Vision after the sermon, 1888. Style He rejects traditional perspective, crops the foreground figures, flattens form and rejects the use of shadow showing the influence of what? Japanese Prints

21. Vision after the sermon, 1888. Style The cropped figure of the priest is a feature borrowed from the Japanese art and Degas. The head-dress and collars are treated as flat white areas shadowed with pale blue.

22. Vision after the sermon, 1888. Style This profile of the praying woman shows features borrowed from Japanese art, folk art and medieval stained glass. He has simplified figures and used flat un- modelled (no use of shading or 3-D) areas of bright colour.

23. Vision after the sermon, 1888. Colour Unmixed colours are applied in large areas, un- naturalistic colours...red, white, black, blue and brown. Solid shapes are outlined by a blue black line.

24. Vision after the sermon, 1888. Colour The face is barely modelled, it is boldly highlighted in white. The lower lip, formed with the crimson strokes picks up the crimson in the background.

25. Gauguin in Arles, 1888 In 1888, on the invitation of Van Gogh, he moved to Arles in the South of France, to help Vincent begin an Artists colony. However this trip ended in complete disaster and he returned to Paris.

26. The Yellow Christ 1888/1889 Subject Matter The Yellow Christ 1889 Inspired by the religious shrines, Gauguin modelled the figure of the crucified Christ on a wooden Christ he saw in a church in Pont Aven.

27. The Yellow Christ,1889 Subject Matter Gauguin was deeply impressed by profoundly superstitious Catholicism of Breton peasants. This scene focused on the strength of the Breton womens faith, representing the power of their inner vision (like in vision after the Sermon) which brings to reality Christs suffering.

28. The Yellow Christ 1888/1889 Subject Matter The Yellow Christ 1889 The Sailor climbing over the stone wall is a little incidental detail, giving a sense of everyday life.

29. The Yellow Christ 1888/1889 Style The Yellow Christ 1889 Gauguin sought a unity in his painting in which line, colour and colour all contributed to the mood he was hoping to express.

30. The Yellow Christ 1888/1889 Style Figures are simplified almost childlike in his style. It is non- naturalistic imaginary forms are combined with a stylized landscape.

31. The Yellow Christ 1888/1889 Colour Painted with flat areas of un-modelled colour and bold outline. The colour of the main focus of the painting, the yellow Christ is echoed throughout the yellows and oranges of the landscape.

32. The Yellow Christ 1888/1889 Colour The Yellow Christ 1889 Treated in non naturalistic heightened colour, the background of depicts the village of Pont Aven. Colours do not fade into the background (he does not use aerial perspective)

33. The Yellow Christ 1888/1889 Technique Technique is crude and primitive.

34. The Yellow Christ 1888/1889 Composition The Yellow Christ 188 The cross placed slightly off centre, dominates the entire painting, spanning both height and breadth of the canvas.

35. The Yellow Christ 1888/1889 Composition The Yellow Christ 1889 Balancing the strong verticals formed by the arms of Christ the picture is divided horizontally into Background Middle ground Foreground

36. Tahiti 1881-1883 1895-1903 He longed for a more primitive life and moved to Tahiti in 1891 Returned to Paris in 1893 penniless Left again for Tahiti in 1895 never to return to France again.

37. Tahitian Women on the Beach, (1891)

38. Characteristics of Gauguins Tahitian work. 1. Tahitian people represented to him the mystery of human existence. 2. Paintings are exotic not picturesque. 3. He seeks to express in his work the life of the people. 4. He suggests a primitive lost paradise

39. Woman with Flower 1891 Gauguin's painting methods Different from Impressionists who applied colours in small dabs and Van Gogh who used rich, thick impastos and expressionistic brushstrokes. He used broad areas of colour. Flat but with subtle variations in hue.

40. The Midday Nap, (1894) Gauguins painting methods He added wax to make paint smooth. Paint is seldom thick, being thinnest near the edges of forms. Forms are often outlined with Prussian blue and earth red. He applied paint thinly with palette knife or paintbrush.

41. Woman with Flower 1891 Gauguin's painting methods He often applied thin paint on un-primed hessian or sackcloth not canvas. The rough weave of the canvas is often visible through the paint.

42. Woman with Flower 1891 Gauguin's painting methods Perhaps these techniques (his use of thin paint and sackcloth) were a consequence of his poverty.

43. Two Tahitian Woman with Mango Blossoms, 1899 Subject Matter The women of Tahiti with their classic gentle beauty Fascinated Gauguin. He idealised them comparing their behaviour and manner to the women of Ancient Greece.

44. Two Tahitian Woman with Mango Blossoms, 1899 Subject matter and Theme. The two women, dressed in a South Sea manner, represent Gauguins dream of an idyllic society

45. Two Tahitian Woman with Mango Blossoms, 1899 Theme Gauguin presents a view of the islands as a serene and peaceful haven but in reality he never found the heaven on earth that he sought there

46. Two Tahitian Woman with Mango Blossoms, 1899 Composition The women fill the whole canvas. They carry a basket of mango blossoms, the most typical flower of the tropics, like an offering of their innocence and purity of spirit.

47. Two Tahitian Woman with Mango Blossoms, 1899 Style and technique Forms are often outlined with Prussian blue and earth red. He applied paint thinly with palette knife or paintbrush.

48. Two Tahitian Woman with Mango Blossoms, 1899 Style and technique He used broad areas of colour. Flat but with subtle variations in hue.

49. The Real Tahiti However Tahiti was not the primitive, mysterious and unaffected Paradise that Gauguins paintings suggest.Europeans were everywhere on the island. Gauguin was often very short on money whilst on the Island, he was at one time so deeply in debt that he tried to poison himself.

50. Where do we come from? Who are we? Where are we going to? 1897 He used the Tahitian people as a vehicle for his sense of mystery of human existence.

51. Where do we come from? Who are we? Where are we going to? However the mystery was more in Gauguins mind than the reality of Tahitian peoples lives. His paintings show men and women removed from the influence of Europeans however in reality were everywhere on the island.

52. Where do we come from? Who are we? Where are we going to? Subject Matter Gauguin was suffering from a deep depression, his daughter in Denmark had died, he was suffering from fever and infection when put all his energy into painting this work. He planned to kill himself when he finished this painting.

53. The Real Tahiti However he took advantage of the open and welcoming nature of the native Tahitians, especially embracing their open attitudes to sexuality. He lived with and had relationships with several Tahitian girls some as young as 13 and 14 years of age, at least one girl bore him a child.

54. End of life 1902, A fight with French soldiers left him with a broken leg. However these difficulties do not come across in his cool, timeless and mysterious paintings. Suffering from eczema and awaiting a jail sentence he died suddenly of a heart attack in May 1903.

55. Leaving cert sample question Discuss the innovations in painting which developed in the second half of the 19 th century. Support your discussion with reference to named works by at least 2 artists. Illustrate your answer.