About Paul Gauguin (go-gen)

Eugene Henri Paul Gauguin was born in France in 1848. As a child he studied at a seminary. A seminary is a school for religious training. As a young adult Gauguin's first job was a naval officer for a ship named the Chili.

Gauguin first began to paint when he was 25 years old. He was unable to make much money painting. He could not support his wife, Mette, and their 5 children.

His paintings are known for making space flat. They are also filled with color. Gauguin's use of color was new to the artists of his day.

He was interested in the nature of color and its psychological effect on the viewer. Psychological means, having to do with or being done by the mind. Gauguin knew that color made us have different feelings when we see it in art. He also was interested in how symbols or objects in art make us feel.

Gauguin traveled to the South Seas several times during his years as an artist. In September, 1890 he wrote, I shall go to Tahiti and I hope to stay there until the end of my life. I think that my art is like a young seedling, and that there I can cultivate it into something primitive and wild. During his time in the South Seas he painted more than 200 paintings.

View other Paintings by Gauguin:

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Visit the Web Museum to see other paintings by Paul Gauguin.

Visit a painting at the Russian Museum of St. Petersburg Ferrara, Gallery of Modern and    Contemporary Art.

Visit paintings from the IMPRESSIONISTS, including a Gauguin from Tahiti.

Visit Self-Portrait, a painting at the Kimball Art Museum.