Paul Gauguin Biography

Paul Gauguin, inspired by the Impressionists, left a successful career in finance to pursue art full-time. In Pont-Aven, Brittany, he forged a new style known as Synthetism, ordering and simplifying sensory data to its fundamentals. His revolutionary use of color for its emotive power rather than its mimetic ability, applied in broad, dark-outlined areas, significantly influenced early twentieth-century artists. Gauguin sought the expressive potential in rural and "primitive" cultures, leading him to Tahiti where he strove to invent and express his own vision of the world, interweaving Polynesian mythology with Western elements. His works, including woodcarvings and graphics, grapple with questions of life, death, and knowledge, making him a pivotal figure in Post-Impressionism.