Gauguin, (re)examined in Berlin
Gauguin, (re)examined in Berlin
Paul Gauguin — Vahine no te tiare — 1891Paul Gauguin — Arearea no varua ino — 1894
From 26 March to 10 July 2022, the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin presents “Paul Gauguin — Why Are You Angry?”, an exhibition that examines Gauguin’s work, confronting it with both historical documents and contemporary works.
Images: Paul Gauguin, “Vahine no te tiare” (The woman with the Flower), 1891. Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek ·· Paul Gauguin, “Arearea no Varua Ino” (The Amusement of the Evil Spirit), 1894. Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek
Universally admired as one of the key figures of post-Impressionism, the life and work of Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) in French Polynesia (between 1891 and his death) has in modern times been subjected to critical examination from a contemporary point of view, leading to accusations of “colonialism” and also putting the spotlight on his attitude towards native women.
While it is undisputed that his relationship with women was, to put it mildly, highly reprehensible (leaving a wife and daughter in Europe, in Polynesia he married a thirteen-year-old girl, to whom he was also unfaithful with other underage girls), the accusations of “colonialism” are sometimes unfounded. It is true that Gauguin, a man of his time after all, sometimes referred to the natives in terms that would be clearly inappropriate today, but there is no explicitly “colonialist” attitude in Gauguin, nor did he display the feeling of superiority of many other Europeans when confronted with societies other than his own. In the words of Raymond Cogniat, Gauguin “distanced himself as far as possible from everything that reminded him of Europe and tried to integrate himself into the local society (…) He quickly became fond of their customs, tried to understand their religion, analysed their joys and emotions, and tried to learn their language”.
The exhibition at the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin, which takes its title from a painting by Gauguin, created in 1896 and now owned by the Art Institute of Chicago, shows how Gauguin “made recourse to a colonialist dream of an earthly paradise, but at the same time managed to articulate a completely novel artistic vision”. At this point, it is important to note that Paul Gauguin’s art had already reached technical maturity in Brittany. As Ingo F. Walther explained, “his achievements in Brittany, the variation between figurative and abstract representation, the colour that has been exempted from the function of portraying reality, the change of the extremely close perspective (…) all these elements are also at his disposal in the South Pacific. More than a formal growth, his work here undergoes a thematic growth”. For example, the “Arearea no Varua Ino” (The Amusement of the Evil Spirit), a work from 1894 included in the exhibition, is immediately reminiscent of “Ondine” (Cleveland Museum of Art), painted five years earlier in Brittany.
“Paul Gauguin — Why are you angry?” explores Gauguin’s contemporary perspective also through works by artists such as Angela Tiatia (New Zealand/Australia), Yuki Kihara (Samoa/Japan) and Nashashibi/Skaer (UK), along with Tahitian activist and multi-artist Henri Hiro (French Polynesia). #2022 #PaulGauguin #theartwolf
