Paul Gauguin
In the Mind of Great Artists
We could make this publication thanks to small donations. How is 3 minutos de arte supported?
“Art is what you see, the emotion it causes you”
Paul Gauguin
Paul Gauguin used vivid, discordant colors to create a strong emotional impact. The way he expressed through color was a decisive influence for the art of modernity.
The phrase we have chosen is one of the ideas he transmitted to a student in Pont-Aven, that picturesque place where the “poor” artists who wanted to get away from Paris spent the Summer; and where he painted his famous paintings with the Bretons —the inhabitants of the place—.
Two key things for the upcoming art started to manifest at that time and place: getting away from imitation of nature to give importance to the feelings of the artist, and the search of the purity of form and color.
Who is the young man who listens attentively to his “master” Gauguin? Paul Sérusier, who brought back to Paris the new ideas, the new concept of art to his friends. He formed with them Les Nabis group.
Sérusier, a great scholar and painter, was the leader of that group that chose that name —“nabis” means “prophets”— because it would announce to the world the new ideas and concerns that changed art.
Gauguin’s ideas quickly spread and color imposed as a great expressive resource.
A famous advice Gauguin gave to Sérusier in one of their strolls in Pont-Aven was: “How do you see this tree? Is it really green? Use green, then, the most beautiful green on your palette. And that shadow, rather blue? Do not be afraid to paint it as blue as possible.”
Image: Two Breton Girls by the Sea (1889).
Recommended links:
Fundamental Paintings: When Will You Marry? (1892), Paul Gauguin.
The First Painting of Synthetism?
You can also find more material using the search engine.
0 Comments