Paul Gauguin Biography • Famous French post-impressionist Artist

Paul Gauguin was a very famous french post-impressionist artist. Nowadays critics give him the credit of creating a completely new style which is totally different from impressionism. His works of paintings influenced many of the next generation modern painters like Henry Matisse and Pablo Picasso. Present time art historians describe him as the introducer of synthetism style of painting.

Early Life

Paul Gauguin born on 7 June in 1848 in Paris, France. His father Clovis Gauguin was a journalist mother Alina Maria Chazal was a housewife. When he was a child, his family moved to Peru. His father died on the way of the journey. After returning to France from South America, he chose to be a merchant marine. He also worked as a soldier in the French Navy and a stockbroker. He wed Mette Gad, a Danish lady in 1873 and they had five children.

At first, Gauguin took painting as a hobby, not as a profession. But Gradually he became serious about his works. His several pieces of work showed in different art shows. He met Cloud Monet and Camille Pissarro and many other masters of impressionism. Many of his works attracted the interest of the impressionists. He left his job as a stockbroker in 1883 in order to be a fully professional artist. He created his most talented artwork ‘The Vision of the Sermon’ in 1888 in which he changed the use of traditional view of color. In 1889 in painted ‘The Yellow Christ’.

Paul Gauguin was an alcoholic. He also suffered from syphilis. He was a good friend of artist Van Gogh, but their friendship didn’t last very long. Paul went to Tahiti to escape from rude European society. He started to stay with the native people there. Paul returned to France to show his new artworks but couldn’t win that popularity.

He returned to French Polynesia and created one of his primitivist masterpiece ‘Where Do We Come From? Where Are We? Where Are We Going ?’ which earned huge fame after his death. Styles of the native people attracted him very much. After that, he moved to a more remote area in 1901.

Profile

Born: June 7, 1848, Paris, France
Died: May 8, 1903, Atuona, French Polynesia
Buried: Calvary Cemetery, Atuona, French Polynesia
Periods: Post-Impressionism, Symbolism, Modern art, Primitivism

Artworks

Still-Life with Fruit and Lemons (c. 1880)
The Swineherd, Brittany(1888)
Delightful Land (Te Nave Nave Fenua) (1892)
Self-portrait, 1885

Death

Gauguin died on 3 May 1903 at his island hut. After his death, his artworks began to win huge popularity towards critics and buyers. In fact, he is one of the great post-impressionists of that time.