Paul Gauguin painted his "Whence come we? What are we? Whither go we?" during his second stay in Tahiti, and it is a vast work that embodies the themes and images that he made his own based on his trips to Tahiti. This is a massive work which today is found in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. It was painted in 1897 during a period of despondency, and the work can be seen as an expression of the inner turmoil experienced by the artist. The painting's underlying sense of mortality is spiritually oriented and can be seen as a statement by the painter of his sense of devotion to nature, to Tahiti, to the people and to the life he lived there. It reflects the artist's mood and in a sense foreshadows his attempted suicide.
Little is known of Gauguin's early life except that he was born in Paris in 1848 and was taken to Peru as an infant because his father feared the political turn of events in France. His father died on that journey, and his mother continued on with Paul and his sister to Lima. Four years later they returned to Paris and settled in OrlTans. He had an early association with strange cultures which may account for his life-long attraction to the exotic. He claimed to have savage Peruvian ancestry, but this was mere pretension on his part. He spent some years in the naval service, but little is known about these years. However, his sea voyages set a pattern for roving adventure his whole life.
Gauguin's early artistic tastes were guided and informed by Gustave Arosa, a stockbroker, art collector, and photographer. When Gauguin's mother died in 1867, Arosa became his guardian. Arosa's home contained a large collection of pictures and photographs, and many of these appear as references in Gauguin's own work. With the intercession of Arosa, Gauguin obtained a position as a stockbroker and began work in 1871 at Bertin's bank. It was here that he met Emile Schuffenecker, a fellow stockbroker who remained a loy...