Paul Gauguin, Bohemian Adventurer
It’s French artist Eugene Henri Paul Gauguin’s birthday today! Born in 1848 he would be ….well OLD if he was still alive. His style is Post Impressionist. His bold use of colour was influenced by folk art and Japanese prints and veers towards Cloisonnism (A form of encasing colour, used in enamelling). In some paintings, you can see the heavy black outlining,as in the ‘Yellow Christ’
gauguin the yellow Christ
However, due to lack of recognition he sailed the seas looking for a haven where he could live off the land and not have to conform to convention. He found Tahiti where he painted some of his more exciting works.
gauguin-tahitian-women
By all accounts, he wasn’t an easy man to get along with, and seems to have spent a lot of his life arguing and striving towards some higher goals. But although he was only in his early fifties when he died, he seems to have packed a lot into his short life including his art. When supplies were short he would paint on pieces of wood. A good account of his life is here
‘Where do we come from? what are we? and where are we going?’ 1897
