Tuesday 8 May 2012

Gaugin – a great artist but not a great man?



Paul Gaugin died on this day in 1903 at the age of 54 – his dissipated life finally caught up with him. He is not admired by many feminists as a result of his lifestyle choices – the least of which was abandoning his wife and 5 children.  I’m not defending him in any way.

But the art has to be admired.

He was a French artist born in Paris.

He is perhaps most famous for sloping off to Tahiti for years – which is where he died.  A luxury small cruise liner is named after him.  See here for a post about this cruise liner.  

His most famous works include:

Self portrait with halo


Mahana No Atua


Tahitian Women

One of the best collections of Gaugin’s is surprisingly in Denmark – surprising because he hated the Danes having lived there with his Danish wife whom he later split from.  Other galleries with good examples include the Musee d’Orsay in Paris and MOMA in New York.




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