Gauguin gay
What Was the Bond Between Gauguin and Van Gogh?
Published: Mar 6, 2024written by Rosie Lesso, MA Contemporary Art Theory, BA Fine Art
Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin were two of the most pioneering artists of the 20th century; each, in turn pushed their art into bold and unchartered region, painting with a free and unbridled expressionism that had never been seen before in the history of art. The pair struck up one of art history’s most unlikely and tumultuous of friendships, which has since been a popular subject in both literature and film. Despite the difficulties they encountered during their rocky relationship, they sustained a long-lasting friendship that lasted until Van Gogh’s untimely death in 1890. We footpath the course of their unique bond as it evolved over the years.
They Struck up a Friendship in Paris
Van Gogh and Gauguin met in Paris, while both were frequenting the city’s vibrant and spirited artistic circles. Rapidly forging a tough bond, the pair discovered mutual interests in moving beyond Impressionism, towards a painterly language with greater freedom for self-expression, and room for the symbolic properties of hue. Both shar
From the April 2024 issue of Apollo. Preview and subscribe here.
In 1887, four years before his erstwhile protégé departed for Tahiti for the first moment, Camille Pissarro confided gossip about Paul Gauguin’s newest esthetic persona as a ceramicist to his son: ‘This was the art of a sailor, a bit taken from everywhere.’ Pissarro’s description was apt. Borrowing, recombination, transposition and appropriation remained the modes of Gauguin’s artistic practice throughout his life. Yet if Pissarro establish little to redeem the syncretism of Gauguin’s work as he departed further from his mentor’s Impressionism, Nicholas Thomas’s concerted aim in his new manual is to demonstrate that there is value in the difficulty of pinning down Gauguin.
This difficulty arises in part from the proof that Gauguin did so many alternative things in so many different places. Born in France but raised partly in Peru, he began working existence as a sailor in the merchant marine and then the French Navy. He remained in seemingly constant movement throughout his skilled career, assembling personal obsessions and stylistic signatures as he jittered to and fro across Europe, to Central America and the Caribbean, and the
Should the National Gallery of Australia be staging a major Paul Gauguin exhibition?
At first glance, the question may appear a little strange. Gauguin (1848-1903) is a hugely significant figure in most European constructs of modern art and a key musician in any discussion of French neo-primitivism, post-impressionism and symbolism. His paintings at auction realise staggering sums of money: in 2022 one changed hands for more than US$105 million.
But the ethical case against Gauguin is that he was a stormy, fist-swinging thug, a paedophile and a serial rapist.
Painting a violent fantasy
Gauguin was a “sex tourist”, who dumped his wife and five children in poverty in Europe and took up residence in French Polynesia, where he married three native children, the youngest 13, the others 14.
He had numerous children with them and infected some of them with syphilis, before he died aged 54. These “child brides” served as models in many of his paintings that took the form of exotic, erotic fantasies.
Curator and art historian Ashley Remer sums up the case against Gauguin:
From a museum perspective, choosing to showcase men like Gauguin does, in its hold way, support rape c
Gauguin and Van Gogh, an explosive friendship
Gauguin et Van Gogh : living together
These two famous painters, who lived at the close of the 19th century, were such good friends that they decided to create a community of avant-garde artists together. In October 1888, Gauguin united Van Gogh in Arles in the "Yellow House" he rented, where he stayed for just over two months.
The two friends lived together: they shared expenses, drank a lot of absinthe and both painted the alike subjects. Van Gogh in particular was very prolific. Unfortunately, their relationship eventually deteriorated and the cohabitation no longer went so well: the relationship was unbalanced - Van Gogh had a tendency to take advantage of
'Nudity, homosexuality' sparked Gauguin attack
A woman who attacked a painting by French impressionist Paul Gauguin at the National Gallery in Washington wanted to destroy the tableau because she said it showed nudity and homosexuality, court documents hold revealed.
"I feel that Gauguin is evil. He has nudity and is awful for the children. He has two women in the painting and it's very homosexual," the chick was quoted as telling security officers who detained her after she tried to rip Gauguin's Two Tahitian Women from the gallery wall and thrash it with her fist.
The suspect, who was identified as Susan Burns in the detaining officer's expression, said she thought the painting should be destroyed.
"I was trying to extract it. I think it should be burned," National Gallery police officer Dexter Moten quoted Burns as saying in a sworn statement filed with the Washington DC Superior Court.
Appearing somewhat unstable, Burns also said: "I am from the American CIA and I have a radio in my head. I am going to execute you."
On Friday, Burns, whose age was not given in the court documents, allegedly entered the National Gallery, whe