Word: gauguin
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...exhibition flows almost chronologically, beginning with the realism of Gustave Courbet (1819-1877), and ending with the postimpressionism of Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) and Paul Gauguin (1848-1903). The viewer does not get a snapshot of one small movement, but instead comes away with a sense of what happened artistically between the classic 18th century still lifes of Jean-Siméom Chardin and the 20th century innovations of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. Related paintings are placed side by side to inform the viewer’s understanding of both the history and the aesthetics behind Impressionist...
After his dramatic departure from Arles in December 1888 following the quarrel that took part of Van Gogh's ear, Gauguin asked if he could have the original Sunflowers. Van Gogh refused, instead painting a replica, the third on display, in which the flowers are less natural and realistic. Apparently, he was trying to adapt his style to appeal to Gauguin. But they remained very different artists, as the exhibition illuminates. They were in the same town, with the same model or scene before them, the same materials at their disposal. Despite traces of similarity, the results are unmistakably...
...other - one of Van Gogh's reasons for his commune - is evident throughout the exhibition. But what comes across more strongly is the inevitability of their eventual rejection of each other's artistic vision. Van Gogh works emotionally, using paint not only for color but to build up texture. Gauguin is more clinical, blending colors and interpreting what he sees, using scenes as grist for studio-based works...
...Gogh and Gauguin first met at a gallery in Paris in 1887 and soon after exchanged paintings - two studies of sunflowers by Van Gogh for a scene in Martinique by Gauguin. (Today the ratio is reversed: in financial terms, two Gauguins equal one Van Gogh.) After that first meeting, Van Gogh began to idolize Gauguin, imagining he had found a kindred spirit who could act as his mentor and friend. Even after their Arles collaboration collapsed, leaving Van Gogh maimed emotionally as well as physically, the Dutch artist dreamed of a reunion. But while the two remained in contact, they...
Despite his denials, Gauguin too was haunted by Van Gogh. In the years after Arles, he painted a number of sunflowers (Still Life with Sunflowers on an Armchair; Caribbean Woman), which came to symbolize his latent appreciation of Van Gogh's talent. Blühm believes those weeks in Arles gave each artist the strength to follow the convictions of his own art in ways that would have been impossible without the intimacy they shared and eventually rejected. It was a destructive relationship in many ways, but one that left an indelible mark on two of the best-known artists...