Table Of Content

Daniel Wildenstein A Savage in the Making Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings (1873-1888) Skira Wildenstein Institute A century after (lie death of Paul Gauguin, our knowledge of his life and work lias made huge strides. The présent work covers the youth and early maturity of this pioneeringartist and attempts a summation. It also offers a complété catalogue of the paintings, in the process thoroughly updating the original Wildenstein catalogue of 1964. These first two volumes take the reader through to the end of 1888, a year of profound upheaval in French painting.Thatwasthe yearin whichGauguinandhisfriends, hy a collaborative elïbrt, arrived at Synthetism, and, by re- jecting représentation in depth, freed Western painting of laws that had governed it since the Renaissance. But Synthetism was also a form ofprimitivism. The society inwhich Gauguin lived was- already - atechnicaland ma- terialistone, which containedthe seedsofail that the 2()th century hecame. Gauguin was one of the first to seek, in reaction to tliis civilisation, a form ofinspiration deriving Irom the timeless origins ofhumanity. Although these twovolumesare the productolrigorous research, they are studded with illustrations and are by no means intended forspecialists alone. Commentary on each workoffersa step-by-step analysis ofGauguin's arlistic development, while reconstructingthe artist's experience and the aesthetic and socio-cultural issues of his times. The lively détail ofthe ehronology descrihes the events of Gauguin'slife, alongwith those ofhis liiends;thanksto extensive research in unpublished archives, it also casts com- pletely new light on Gauguin's ancestry. The introduction offers ananalysisofthe period and an in- depth portrait ofthis great artist. This exhaustive work is carefully designed so thateach entry and inset can be read in isolation, though a system of cross-refereneing ensures the continuity of the work and restores the overall trajectpry of Gauguin's development. . " Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) Daniel Wildenstein Gauguin A Savage in the Making Catalogue Raisonné ofthe Paintings 1873-1888) Volume I TextandResearch Sylvie CRUSSARD Documentation and Chronology Martine HEUDRON i' mfît Skira Wildenstein Institute .iSr^5-use Contents Skira editore Wildenstein Institute Volume I Design PublicationsManager VII Acknowledgements Marcello Francone Marie-Christine Maufus IX Foreword Editor Publicationssecretary Claudio Nasso Annie Champié XIII Introduction Editorialassistant Research XXXVI Abbreviations TimothyStroud Sylvie Crussard Catalogue Maquette Martine Heudron SerenaParini 3 The EarlyYears (1873-1878) AntonioCarminati Translation 51 1879-1883: Study and Experiment: Between Pissarro and Cézanne Chromolithography Chris Miller, Oxford 131 In Rouen (January-November 1884) FrancoPeruzzi 189 Denmark (November 1884-June 1885) 213 Summer in Dieppe (June orJuly to September 1885) 239 Return to Paris (September 1885-July 1886) 267 The First Stay in Pont-Aven (July-October 1886) Volume II 296 Abbreviations 299 The Winter in Paris (October 1886-April 1887) Firstpublishedin Italyin2002 by 317 In Martinique (June-November 1887) SkiraEditore S.p.A. Palazzo Casati Stampa 353 A FurtherWinter in Paris (November 1887-January 1888) viaTorino 61 365 A Return to Pont-Aven 1 (January-August 1888) 20123 Milano 429 Collaboration, Dialogue and Révolution Italy (Pont-Aven, August-October 1888) © 2002 byWildensteinInstitute, Paris 501 With Van Gogh in Arles (October-December 1888) © 2002 bySkiraeditore, Milan Chronology AU rights reservedunder international copyright conventions. 557 Abbreviations Spécifie to the Chronology No partofthis bookmaybe reproducedorutilizedin 559 Fiistorical Chronology anyformorbyanymeans, electronicormechanical, includingphotocopying, recording, or anyinformation Annexes storageandretrievalSystem,withoutpermission in 620 Concordance of 1964 and 2001 Catalogues writingfromthepublisher. 622 Index ofTitles Printed andbound in Italy. Firstédition 625 Index ofUnknown Works ISBN 88-8491-137-0 626 Thematic Index Distributedin NorthAmericaandLatinAmericaby 627 Sélective Bibliography Rizzoli International Publications, Inc. through St. 634 Index ofNames Martin'sPress, 175 FifthAvenue, NewYork, NY 10010. 645 Index ofMuséums in Possession ofGauguin Works Distributedelsewherein theworld byThames and inThis Catalogue Hudson Ltd., 181a HighFlolborn, LondonWC1V 7QX, UnitedKingdom. 646 Photographie Crédits Acknowledgements Among the manywho have contributed to this work, we should like, Mme Géraldine Cerfde Dudzeele, first and foremost, to cite the late Douglas Cooper, who brought ail Mr B.F. Cook ofthe British Muséum, his immense érudition to the task. Mme Nicole Cruz-Altounian, Mme Maïotte Dauphite, Conservateur at the Musée Gauguin, We should also like to thank: Le Carbet (Martinique), Muséums in général, and in particular the Musée de Pont-Aven, where M. Dominique Dussol, Mme Catherine Puget welcomed us into the fascinating Centre de Mme Françoise Gatouillat, documentation that she lias established there; the Papeete Muséum MmeJill-Elise Grossvogel, and the Musée d'Orsay, Paris; Mme MarioJohnston, Libraries, and the various public archives registry offices, cadastre, M. Francis Joubert, - trade registers, court records, maritime and meteorological archives — Mme Kamitsis, ofthe Musée de la Mode et duTextile, Paris, that allowed us to consult their documents. We are especially grateful M. Charles-Guy Le Paul, to MmeVincent, oftheArchives municipales d'Orléans; Mlle M. Philippe Le Stum, ofthe Musée de Quimper, Dugrillon, oftheArchives départementales du Loiret; Mme Magnol- Jacques LeTessier, Malhache, oftheArchives départementales des Hauts-de-Seine, and M. Pierre Le Thoër, theArchives départementales de Seine-Maritime, for their invaluable M. Sten Madsen, assistance; M. Malmanger, ofthe Nationalgalleriet, Oslo, Foundations and private muséums, churches, autograph sellers, Mr Chris Miller, international galleries (in particular, MM. Durand-Ruel and M. Alain Motte, Bernheim-Jeune), that opened their archives to us; Mmes Danièle and Sophie Nicolaïevitch, Photographie agencies: Roger-Viollet and KharbineTapabor, and our Colonel R. Noullens, ofthe Musée de l'Armée, Paris, photographer, Fabrice Gousset; Mme Nina Os, Ail those, scholars and others, who by their superior knowledge of M. Philippe Prévôt, certain subjects have generously aided and advised us, in particular: MmeAlexandra Quale, M. Pierre Lemattre, Professeur at the Ecole nationale supérieur M. Xavier Renard, d'Horticulture, for botanical identifications; the Service Maritime de navigation de la Gironde, M. and MmeJan and Hélène Liihl, for information concerning Mme Shimizu, ofthe Musée Guimet, Paris, Japanese prints; M. Tan Ho, Maurice Malingue, who presented us with reproductions offamily M. Christian Thomas, photographs; Mme Denise Viennet, M. Bertrand Quéinec, eminent expert on Pont-Aven, the Sociétés d'histoire locale, the lateJohn Rewald, who allowed us to consult his personal archives; the private collectors who have supplied us with photographs and M. François Renault, for assistance in identifying ports; information, M. Delgove for his research in theArchives départementales de l'Eure. the librarians and documentalistesoftheWildenstein Institute who tookpart in this work, in particular Fabienne Charpin-Schaff, our Also: principallibrarian, and Sibylle Bertrand, for iconographie TheAltarriba-Recchi family, documentation. M. Bernard Batailler, Lt.-Col. Benoît, ofthe Service historique de l'Armée de terre, Mme Denise Bernard-Folliot, M. etMme Olivier Bertrand, Mme Marie-Thérèse Bobot, ofthe Musée Cernuschi, Paris, Mme Janet F. Briner, VII 3f Foreword Since the appearance ofGeorges Wildenstein's catalogue of The biographical context is also evoked relative to Gauguin's work in 1964, knowledge ofGauguin's life and individual works whenever it seems relevant. Thus, work has made huge strides, and important advances have throughout the catalogue, there are insets on certain been made in the literature. personalities whom Gauguin encountered en route, close friends and less significant colleagues; not so much those Our original intention was merely to bring the catalogue who, like Van Gogh or Bernard, have already been up to date, but today we have before us an in-depth study extensivelystudied, but figures aboutwhom little or nothing that follows Gauguin's development step-by-step in its was previously known, such as Ingeborg Thaulow, interaction with the times in which he lived. Madeleine Bernard and the promiscuous Breton woman portrayed in 293. It covers the period from the artist's earliest efforts to the end ofa highly significant year, 1888. Gauguin, inveterate Models and dedicatees ofthe paintings are described in the explorer that he was, had by then attained maturity, and commentaries; events or elements indirectly concernedwith in a collaborative effort, he and others elaborated a newway or subséquent to a work are dealt with in insets. The ofpainting, discarding many ofthe fundamental laws that Provenancealso provides outline information about certain had governed the art of the previous few centuries, and collectors. paving the way for the developments of the twentieth century. In the Catalogue, the reader will find a step-by-step analysis of the aesthetic and interprétative aspects of the The INTRODUCTION to this catalogue offers an appraisal œuvreas these relate to the issues ofGauguin's own period. ofGauguin's trajectoryand attempts aportrait ofthis deeply This perspective is indispensable. The period under review reflective and profoundly audacious man. ends with the year 1888, when the cultural and artistic landscape in which Gauguin worked was visibly changing. The biographical aspect of the présent work is set out in It was a year of transformation: new théories of art, new the CHRONOLOGY. It records the known events of forms of thought reflecting the accelerating development Gauguin's life and the way in which he reacted to them. of contemporary society, new friends and acquaintances, In parallel with Gauguin's life we have recorded the lives and new subjects. Many in-depth studies have appeared over ofthose who were most important to him. Moreover, the the last forty years, and it seemed time for a summation. contemporary context is suggested byreference to significant events in cultural, political and social history. It is, however, Gauguin's own déclarations that have done most to orient and stimulate our thoughts: art is an In the CHRONOLOGY, the reader will also find important abstraction'; absolutelyJapanese [picture] by a savage from and previouslyunpublished research on Gauguin's genealogy. Peru'; 'symbolic path'; 'rising towards God'. It was scarcely IX Foreword Foreword possible to quote these remarks without seeking to define The examples are too various to enumerate, but a Doubts haveveryoccasionally arisen about the year specified two exceptions. The first ofthese concerns exhibitions that their significance, and indeed their accuracy, especiallysince THEMATIC INDEX with headings as concrète as 'mandolin' in certain dated signatures. Since no certain conclusions allowed us to locate a work about which we had no other terms like abstract' and 'symbolic' did not always have the and as theoretical as 'abstraction' will help to orient the emerged in these cases, ail suchworks have been catalogued information (for example, Abandoned Garden, Rouen, 118 meanings they do now. Such enquiry seemed unavoidable, reader. in the year indicated by Gauguin, and the other possible was known onlyby an old photograph until itwas exhibited given that these thoughts played apart in amajor disruption dates noted in the commentary. in a Parisian gallery). The second concerns certain of artistic practice; the system of représentation that they Attached to individual paintings, these are self-contained European exhibitions prior to the epoch ofthe FirstWorld supplanted had, after ail, prevailed since the Renaissance. studies that can be read in isolation, but a system ofcross- Within any given year, works have been grouped bygenre War; here our concern was not towaste the documentation Moreover, they stood at the heart'of a rich and intense referencing allows the links between these fragments to be (still life, portrait, landscape, compositions with figures). garnered by Douglas Cooper and Peter Kropmanns debate, a common construction to which each made re-established and restores continuity. And ifthat year is divided into stays in différent locations, respectively. essential contributions; and Bernard's claims concerning the the classification is maintained within these subdivisions, paternity of Synthetism have generated controversy ever Such studies are sometimes incorporated into a particular though not always in the same order. Where no exhibition title is given, the exhibition was a solo since. commentarybut are presented as insetsif, though theyenrich one. the context ofa work, the information they contain does However, in certain chapters, this system has been Among the works that have received the most extensive not directly concern that work or bears on a whole sériés abandoned. There were periods for which a chronological Documents and Bibliography prior to 1904 are commentaryare the earliest Symbolist paintings. Laden with ofworks. présentation seemed self-evidentlynecessary. One example systematically cited in relation to the works; but, given the thought, these pictures began to appear in 1888. Their ofthis is Gauguin's Danish sojourn of1885, where the small abundance of more recent publications, a comprehensive messages are, by Gauguin's own avouchment, largely * * * number of paintings makes the passage of the seasons list was clearly ruled out. concealed: 'Too bad for thosewho can't read them; we mustn't peculiarly visible: winter turns to spring. Another is explain. After giving an account of some - though by no Some practical information about the catalogue. Gauguin's stay in Arles, during which surviving Obviously, priority had to be given to original sources: means ail - of the interprétations that these paintings have correspondence gives us a fairly accurate idea ofthe order correspondence, which is frequently cited in the catalogue elicited, we offer our own perspective on Gauguin's It lists the paintings. These are on various média: in addition in which the works - again relatively few - were painted. entries; Gauguin's sketchbooks and writings; the archives intentions in The Vision oftheSermon (308), the self-portrait to canvas and panel, the reader will find two tambourins of the dealers (Durand-Ruel, Bernheim-Jeune, Druet, LesMisérables (309), Fruit (312) and Human Misery (317). with decorated drumheads (147and 240) and a little panel But the most exceptional case, in two respects, is that of Boussod etValadon, Thannhauser, andVollard; documents with intégral sculpted frame (155). Gauguin's 1888 Breton campaign. Using Émile Bernard's from Daniel de Monfreid's archives (publishedbyJ. Loize); The aesthetic notions that exercised Gauguin and his arrivai in Pont-Aven as our watershed, we have divided this contemporary reviews orwritings; and correspondence and colleagues are discussed in relation to the paintings where This first part ofthe catalogue, in two volumes, comprises into two phases: the first ofcontinued Impressionism, the writings published or unpublished by Gauguin's friends. Gauguin himselfrefers to them or where there are clearsigns 330 numbers. To the 321 known works are added nine second ofmajor stylistic disruption. Moreover, in the second To these must be added registry office research, the study of their having been applied. Sometimes we have merely Unknownworks, whose existence seemed to us sufificiently phase, it seemed of much greater interest to attempt a of the cadastre, and the topographical, botanical, drawn attention to a détail, where this seems revelatory and well attested. These lost works have been inserted at their chronological classification, in the hope thatwe might thus meteorological and local historical information that has marks a step in his development. Longer disquisitions are likeliest date of exécution; a list can be found in the retrace, step-by-step, the advances that led Gauguin from helped to identify particular motifs. requiredwhen Gauguin reaches asignificant newstage. Thus Annexes. Impressionism to a new form ofpainting. we have tried to define the emergence of new tendencies The dating ofcorrespondence in this period has in many (Synthetism, primitivism, théories ofcolour) and Gauguin's In other cases, the testimony that seemingly relates to signatures that seemed of uncertain authenticity are cases been firmly established by the work of excellent share in these. More diverse and fragmentary aspects ofhis unknownworks has appeared to us insufficient proofoftheir precededby a question mark. scholars such as Victor Merlhès, Ronald Pickvance, Jan work have also received attention: sources of inspiration existence. Sometimes a work is mentioned only once, and Those whose wording is difficult to read arefollowedby a Hulsker andJanine Bailly-Herzberg. Their conclusions have (Oriental carpets, imagerie)-, effects or stylistic devices we cannot be sure that it has not been painted over or question mark. generallybeen respected; the fewmodifications thatwe have (distortions, complementarycolours); personal experiments whether it was ever finished. In other cases, the reference been able to suggest are so minor that we have generally (dynamic surface-effects); group proclivities (vertical tree- is not so précisé as to exclude other identifications. Such Under the exhibitions headingare cited ail those that took not deemed it necessary to justify them. trunks, stooping figures) and private conventions (bird references have simplybeen cited anddiscussedin the entries place up to and including the year ofGauguin's death. motifs, pointed ears); the significance ofparticular elements for known works, where these présent analogies with As regards Scandinavian research, we refer to published (the représentation ofprinted matter orworks ofart); social supposed unknown works exist; a list ofthe latter, too, can Ofthose that took place after that date, we have cited only works, here and there pointing out areas that have remained trends reacting with cultural tendencies ('the modem be found in the Annex. solo shows, or thematic exhibitions focusing on particular obscure, in the hope ofstimulating further research. world'); Systems of thought (the notions of 'savage' or aspects of the œuvre: the school of Pont-Aven, Post- 'primitive', the rôle of the artist); working methods Works thatare difficult toplace have been inserted in the Impressionism, Nabis, Cloisonism, and so on. The presence In the bibliography, we have, for the period after 1903, (repeats, compositions, vocabulary); and genres and most probable or convenient year and accompanied by a ofworks in such exhibitions is systematically recorded. Ail naturally given priority to works that record first-hand techniques (décorative painting, fiâmes, materials). général suggestion on their possible date. other post-1904 exhibitions are automaticallyomittedwith accounts, in particular those of Rotonchamp, Morice, x xi Foreword Chassé and Malingue; the indispensable works of reflected the state of our own knowledge or our own Introduction V. Merlhès, with their magisterial documentation, the thoughts (we evidently tended not to dwell on notions with impressive compilation in the catalogue of the Franco- which we were already familiar, however excellent the text American exhibition of 1988-89, and the many studies by that presented them). We repeat, however, that our primary Merete Bodelsen. But we also felt the need to include objective has been to go back to the sources; nor have we analyses that explore a particular point, throwing newlight sought to establish a hierarchy ofGauguin exegetes. on certain aspects of the œuvre or enriching its context. Among these are the elucidation ofthe hidden Symbolism With one exception (a still life lost from the Bremen in Gauguin's work begun by Henri Dorra, and developed muséum), we have not cited muséum catalogues, which by Wayne Andersen and Vojtech Jirat-Wasiutynski; or the added nothing to the information that these institutions illuminating account ofits religious aspects byZivaAmishai- had, in général, directly supplied. Catalogues of private Maisels, whose merits as a Gauguin exegete have been collections are often of more difficult access, and have insufficientlyacknowledged. And we could hardlyomit the therefore been cited. workofPickvance and Hulsker on Yan Gogh, the Bernard 'By Indirections Find Directions Out' those moulds out ofwhich a man cornes at 20 trained up exhibition of 1990, the studies of Schuffenecker by René The PROVENANCE mentions art dealers only up to 1939, to think like everyone else3'. When there was talk of his Porro andJill-Elyse Grossvogel, and those ofthe Pont-Aven the date ofVollard's death. After that date, they have been Gauguin was a late starter, and long remained an amateur. daughter learning to draw, his advice was '.. .but no teacher. school by Charles-Guy Le Paul, Denise Delouche, André cited only where the history ofa workwas unknown to us He turned professional in 1883, and from the ten or so years Ifshe likes it, she should copywhat's in the house and, on Cariou and many others; Kropmanns' documentation of until its appearance in the gallery. before that, we know ofsome one hundred paintings; by that basis, make sketches from nature4'. the way in which modem painting made its way into the same âge, Monet had painted nearly four hundred. Germany; the manystudies on the emergence ofjaponisme Transactions are accompanied by a year if their date is Thereafter, Gauguin showed himselfcapable ofsustained So no teachers -but masters, yes: masters whoseworks were in the second half of the century, and Bogomila Welsh- known. Where this degree of exactitude has proved production, often approaching a rate of one and a half an éducation in themselves. Gauguin never stopped Ovcharov's work on the birth of Cloisonism. impossible, the abbreviation c.' has been used. Thus 'c. paintings a week; this was sometimes slowed by dépression praising the masters whom he admired, and they left their 1900' indicates that the work was in the hands ofa given or illness (for example, in the early months of 1888) and trace in his work. Ail the same, such sensitivity to tradition For ail their interest, these works have not been owner by 1900, whatever the date ofits acquisition. very occasionally accelerated, for example, by working could only ever be afirst stage. Hehad dissent inhis blood; systematicallycited whenever theymention apainting. They alongside Van Gogh in Arles. it was, as we shall see, his birthright never to follow the are mentioned only when they seemed to contribute some Finally, each period or stay in a particular place is preceded Perseverance did not imply répétition. With the possible highroad. He had no sooner mastered a precept than he essential element: previously unknown documents and by an Introduction that points out its most significant exception ofhis Dieppe campaign, when, abruptly removed set out to scotch it, and he was in tireless quest ofnewways research, or a particularly informative insight into some aspects. from family life, he threw himself heart and soul into ofpainting. By the end ofthe period covered bythis volume, aspect of a work. painting, Gauguin eschewed sériés of similar paintings, he had, with his friends, discovered a coherent System widely Some six months have elapsed since this work appeared in judiciously selecting both his subject and compositional divergent from the prevailing orthodoxy. It goes without saying that our décision to cite a work in French, and the reader should not be surprised by certain approach. The resuit is a remarkably diverse corpus, one DocumentsandBibliographymust in many cases have been, recent reflections and discoveries that have been allowed to of the many ways in which Gauguin's secondary Experiment ■ When Gauguin began to paint, Impressionism in some measure, subjective or arbitrary; it must often have find their place in this édition. tempérament found expression1. was in the fullflush ofyouth.An inquiringmindlike his could hardly remain unaffected, but he first had an apprenticeship to serve. As though retracing the road to Impressionism, he □ Masters and allies turnedtoward itsprecursors, and Corotin particular, adopting We know of no teacher for these first years. The painter as though to the manner born a style well suited to the Schuffenecker, who knew Gauguin from very early on, gentleness and harmony concealed in his own character. But describes him as 'making his first attempts at painting from 1873 on, alongside works inspired by Corot, Gauguin without assistance2'. Hewas extremelygifted- from as early wasattemptingmuch moremodempaintings, such as Working as 1873, certain ofthe little studies are clear proofofthis theLand(4); he lookedtowardthe Barbizon schooland soon - and had the poise ofa man wholly at one with himself. after toward Boudin and Jongkind, transparently seeking a Gauguin was one of those who observe and judge for more animated surface for his paintings. themselves, and do not require anyone to plot the landscape for them. He may even have felt that a teacher He began towork on Impressionist technique only in 1879, would hold him back: a while later, he inveighed against under the tutelage ofPissarro, his first real teacher and the XIII XII Introduction •ByIndirectionsFindDirections Out' only one whose guidance he accepted. He seems to have His underlying tastes gradually came to the fore, notably radically différent forms. But Gauguin long retained his Free form ■ First and foremost was the challenge of had no difficulty assimilating the technique, as we can see his liking for rather monumental représentations of the attachment toboththe Impressionist renderingofatmosphère painting. For several décades, the need hadbeen feltto focus from the two perfectly accomplished snow-studies painted human figure. The influence of Degas and Puvis de andthe Impressionistbrushstroke, and thoughhehad astrong attention on the means spécifie to painting: on the physical late that year. Though a need for change was felt as early Chavanne emerged strongly in 1886, and is part of the sense ofimpending social crisis (as the subject of Wrestlers, surface ofthe painting and the materiality ofthe pigments as the 1880s, Impressionism was still the avant-garde, and weave ofhis own œuvre: Degas, the aristocrat, with whose 298, shows), in July 1888 he was still searching in other (perhaps because ofrivalryfrom photography), but also on Gauguin was proud to be partofit. Impressionism remained fierce independence and élégant veracity he felt the most directions (as his treatment of Wrestlersshows). the abstract formai elements (form, line and colour) that the basis of his technique until 1888; and though he profound affinities, and Puvis, less aggressive but no less It was only in August that Bernard won him over to the constitute that surface. Anew awareness ofthewayin which constantly tried to modify it, he constantly reverted to it. independent, who afforded Gauguin an example of the cause ofthe aplat. Gauguin had, in the intérim, undergone these elements resonated within the soul placed meaning timeless and the méditative. a spiritual reawakening (described in the entry to the Vision, within reach, andjustified an increasingly free manipulation For Gauguins desire to escape Pissarros teachings beganwhile A tendency to enhance the mass of his compositional 308): it is as if he could not make this system of ofthem. There was something quite generalised about this he was still painting at his master's side. Among ail the elements and delineate themwith a firm, supple outline of représentation his own till he had discovered a function for need, inasmuch as literature had already undergone asimilar experiments then being conducted, those ofCézanne, whom increasingly shapely kind this is particularly évident in it, that ofcommunicating his thoughts. process (see Fruit, 312, inset on formai symbolism). The — he metin 1881, most interested Gauguin. Therethepicture his figure paintings - also emerged primarily in 1886. object was no longer to represent the external world but surface was acquiring a life ofits own. Its subtle relation to During the 1880s, similar developmentswerevisible in other Everything seems suddenly to have fallen into place in that its reflection in the inner world of the artist. This Cézanne's distortions ofspace and form inspired Gauguin, Impressionists, in Monet, Pissarro, and Renoir: a movement summerof1888, when these various experiments coalesced, development was one of the broadest movements of the who attempted to impart a new dynamism to his own toward greater and more 'décorative' simplification of in an atmosphère of community shared not only with second halfofthe nineteenth century; the most inward of experiments in this area: skewingspace in Quarries (85)and composition, clearer outlines and greater monumentality Bernard and the little Pont-Aven group, but also - at the its branches ultimately led to twentieth century abstraction. making intermittent playwith opaque surfaces traversed by in figures. very deepest level - with Yan Gogh. Synthetism took on board this latent tendency, using it to undertows offlux that increasingly hold the eye. WithVan Gogh, therewas much for Gauguin to exchange. fuel its 'abstraction' (which remained figurative) and its The shadow ofthe future ■ This period ofgestation was He was able to impart to Van Gogh his powerful avant- subjective distortions (see Vision, 308, inset on 'Synthetism'). Gestation ■ Till 1884-1885, the questing nature of interrupted by two sudden breakthroughs. The first, in garde purposiveness, his idealism, his native hauteur, and Gauguins work is clear, but this programme' of research 1886, was the portrait of Clovis. Its 'primitive aspect' the path taken byhis own reflections (in letters which have Areturn to distant origins ■ At this point, we encounter did not lead to a fundamentally new way of painting. It perhaps owes something to Gauguins Cézannian not, for the most part, survived); then, while in Arles, the a second aspect ofthe sensibility ofthe time. It too tended left certain traces — in particular in the orientation and experiments, butit displays anotablyindividual quality, and Synthetist discoveries produced by collective research in to reject realist représentations of the world, instead freedom of his brushwork — but was ultimately absorbed its primitivism remained unparalleled until Wrestlers (298) Pont-Aven. But perhaps the true powerhouse ofthe two was imparting to its transpositions a naïve and archaic savour. into what was still an Impressionist System. of 1887. The second breakthrough was his voyage to Vincent. This was principallybecause ofhis intense spiritual This was the primitivist current. It was an essential Martinique in 1887; the décorative fragmentation of the charisma, by which Gauguin was quite shaken. Another ingrédient in Synthetism, which was, in its turn, one of Not that he abandoned ail cutting-edge experiment. But he picture surface in Gauguins Martinican paintings (perhaps factorwasVan Gogh's passion forJapanese prints, inwhich primitivism's first truly successful forms. thought twice before assimilating and took onlywhat suited inspired by Oriental carpets?) is quite unexpected, and was the Dutchman saw the model of a simplified and vividly him. He toyed with Neo-Impressionism in 1886 but no less unexpectedly abandoned on his return to France. coloured aesthetic. And finally, there were Van Gogh's Though Synthetism provided it with a form of aesthetic abandoned it almost immediately, its only effectbeingaslight These innovations seem almost entirelypersonal. Theymade thoughts about colour, towhich Gauguin instantlyreacted. expression, primitivismwas certainly in large partthe product and temporary réduction in the scale ofhis brushstrokes. In a définitive reappearance when the new style ofSynthetism Before even meeting the man, whenVan Gogh's ideas about of a social phenomenon, and could only have come into the company he kept, the subject ofJapanese prints was on was collectively forged duringthe summer of 1888, perhaps colour were known to him only by letter, Gauguin existence in a context like that of the second half of the every tongue, but their effect on him was slow and graduai. suggesting that Gauguin absorbed from his colleagues only attempted to apply them himself (see the still life Fête nineteenth century, when a technically-minded bourgeois In 1887, he looked to them only for spatial effects ofa kind what already lay latent within him. Gloanec, 301, inset on complementaries, and the self-portrait civilisation was rampant (and, as the Goncourt brothers long since practised by Degas and the Impressionists. Not Les Misérables, 309, inset on colour), and when he finally prophetically remarked in 1867, undergoing an inexorable until the summer of1888 didJapanese prints offer the germ Convergence ■ Synthetism came into being through a arrived in Arles and was confronted with Van Gogh's process of'Américanisation'). Ruled byapositivist mentality, ofa more radical renewal (see introductionto the Martinique process ofcollaboration, contribution and assimilation. But pictures, they led him to 'a law ofderived colours' that he weighed down by materialism and sapped by the collapse of campaign, and StillLife with Horse'sHead\ 216, StillLife with Gauguin was not so very quick to take up what he saw. He continued to observe till the end ofhis artistic life (see Blue ancient ideals, this society impoverished the instinctive and Japanese Prints, 260, and Wrestlers, 298, inset). had known Cloisonism's simplified forms and areas offiât Trees, 319, inset). Gauguin acknowledged ail this when Van spiritual sides of humanity; certain forms of decadence colour (aplats) since late 1887, but it was some time before Gogh died: 'We owed a great deal to Vincent's influenceV inevitablyresulted (see Wrestlers, 298, inset on 'The Modem Gauguins development was, in fact, slow and inward. In they found their way into his own work. These innovations World', Vision, 308, inset on 'Positivism and the Idéal', and 1886, he showed his entourage a theoretical papersuggesting were anything but a development ofImpressionism. Inspired □ Three tendencies meet LittleDogs, 311, inseton 'Brutal painting'). In these respects, an intuitive, harmonious, méditativewayofpainting, inspired by prints and quotidian imagery, they reflected the growing Western civilisation has not greatly changed; even today by the Orient and doubtless fairly static. But this remained interest of the younger génération in popular and extra- These disparate but ultimatelyvery concordant efforts were manifestations smacking ofdecadencealternatewith vigorous somewhat inarticulate (see Clovis, 208, inset). European arts at a time when manyfelt a confused need for channelled into solving a threefold contemporarydilemma. primitivist reactionswhose principal aim is areturn to greater XV XIV