Paul Gauguin

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.

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impression of Tahiti was probably disappointing, since European influence had changed every part of the capital of Papeete by that time. Gauguin was searching for the primitive, and he would not find it in that part of the country. He arrived with certain preconceived ideas about "native life" and so tended to idealize his surroundings to the extent of believing in the magic world he created on canvas: "His ideal savage splashed in the lagoons, hacked fruit down from the trees and hunted games in the forests."4 Gauguin himself lacked such skills and so purchased his food from the market. He also had sophisticated tastes that were not satisfied easily, and life there was not cheap. Gauguin's early pictures idealized Tahiti: "With masterful simplicity and colors more glowing than ever, he described an idyllic environment; but he felt that reference to native folklore and tradition was lacking. He interpreted a Christian theme in Tahitian terms but the discovery in 1892 of J.A. Moerenhout's account of ancient Tahitian mythology released a stream of new ideas."5 After this, he began to include elements of this mythology in his work. Gauguin took his French bohemianism with him to the South Seas. As a result of these years
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Approximate Word count = 2328
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)

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