Nov 24, 20192 min read

Exhibition of Gauguin Portraits at the National Gallery

Name: Gauguin Portraits

Dates: until 26 October 2020

Venue: The National Gallery (Sainsbury Wing)

Location: Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross, London, WC2N 5DN

Artist’s profile

Artist: Paul Gauguin

Origins: French (1848 – 1903)

Art movement: Postimpressionism

Period: 19th century (second half)

Famous paintings: Two Tahitian Women, Spirit of the Dead Watching, Vision After the Sermon

A part from Paul Gauguin there are another three great artists that belong to Postimpressionism: Paul Cezanne, Vincent van Gogh and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

Paul Gauguin started his career as a stockbroker in Paris. As a wealthy man he collected paintings of the Impressionists and was encouraged by Pissarro to start painting in his spare time. After a stock market crash in 1882 Gauguin decided to become a full-time painter. He eventually abandoned his wife and family to devote his life to art.

Self-portrait

National Gallery of Art, Washington

Oil on canvas

Photo: tadart.co.uk

Early in his art career Gauguin painted his wife and their kids as well as self-portraits. Aline was Gauguin’s daughter who was named after Gauguin’s mother. There was clear influence of the impressionist style in his early work.

Interior with Aline

On loan to Museums Sheffield

Oil on canvas

Photo: tadart.co.uk

Paul Gauguin was also a close friend of Vincent van Gogh and they briefly worked together for almost three months in Provence in France in 1888. Unfortunately the artists had an argument on the evening of 23 December 1888. The same evening van Gogh cut off his ear. The next day Gauguin left the south of France and both artists never saw each other again although they exchanged some correspondence over the years.