Two hours ago, I knew little about Gauguin, except that he represented the primitive, which I could respect (rather than enjoy) as a genre, though the beach-girls he portrayed in that deliberately crude style held little appeal for me. My interest lay in what he personally symbolised - the young man well-placed in a formal profession in one of the grand capitals of Europe, who suddenly decides to throw it all up in favour of the south sea island life. "To escape European civilization and everything that is artificial and conventional", as he put it. In other words, doing what thousands like him today are longing to do, but never quite dare. (His courage would always be acknowledged, even by his enemies.)
He was, however, unlucky in his timing. Gauguin's Polynesian idyll was starting to come under threat, largely from the catholic priesthood, who thought it was time to rid the locals of their folklorish superstitions. As for the pedophile issue, which commentator Waldemar Januszczak mentions at the outset, the locals still think fourteen-year-old girls are ripe and ready for motherhood, and perhaps we can be too quick to judge according to our own norms.
It was his relations with adult European women that never seemed harmonious. Seven years at sea had clearly cheapened his view of the opposite sex, and he was still paying his way for years after. (Even living in poverty with Van Gogh, they put aside a weekly budget for a visit to the local bordello.) His wife had thought she was marrying into stockbroker society, and found no satisfaction in being the wife of an artist, even when his work was selling. Like many who trumpet their sexual conquests, he seemed to harbour some nagging problems in his emotional life, and we are not too surprised when we hear that his last years were plagued by advanced syphilis, along with running sores on his leg that looked like leprosy, causing people to shy away from him in horror.
An early critic had presciently called his work "artificially exotic", and more recent research has shown his depiction of Tahitian mythology to be largely his own invention, with all manner of styles from other cultures bolted on for effect. Perhaps it is better to ignore the reality of Gauguin and just go for the legend, as the rest of the world still does when these images of simple islanders soar past the million mark at auction. It sounds as though some people at least may be relishing the south sea life more than he did.
He was, however, unlucky in his timing. Gauguin's Polynesian idyll was starting to come under threat, largely from the catholic priesthood, who thought it was time to rid the locals of their folklorish superstitions. As for the pedophile issue, which commentator Waldemar Januszczak mentions at the outset, the locals still think fourteen-year-old girls are ripe and ready for motherhood, and perhaps we can be too quick to judge according to our own norms.
It was his relations with adult European women that never seemed harmonious. Seven years at sea had clearly cheapened his view of the opposite sex, and he was still paying his way for years after. (Even living in poverty with Van Gogh, they put aside a weekly budget for a visit to the local bordello.) His wife had thought she was marrying into stockbroker society, and found no satisfaction in being the wife of an artist, even when his work was selling. Like many who trumpet their sexual conquests, he seemed to harbour some nagging problems in his emotional life, and we are not too surprised when we hear that his last years were plagued by advanced syphilis, along with running sores on his leg that looked like leprosy, causing people to shy away from him in horror.
An early critic had presciently called his work "artificially exotic", and more recent research has shown his depiction of Tahitian mythology to be largely his own invention, with all manner of styles from other cultures bolted on for effect. Perhaps it is better to ignore the reality of Gauguin and just go for the legend, as the rest of the world still does when these images of simple islanders soar past the million mark at auction. It sounds as though some people at least may be relishing the south sea life more than he did.