Paul Gauguin: influences, peers and legacy

Every connection with its receipt

Gauguin began as a Sunday painter under Impressionist tutelage and ended carving tikis in the Marquesas, and the map of his mind runs from Pissarro's garden plots to Buddhist temple reliefs and Peruvian pottery. This mix traces the mentors, the borrowed non-European forms, the Pont-Aven circle he dominated, and the Fauves and Expressionists who built on his flat, arbitrary color.

The Kynda mix for Paul Gauguin

• Key Influence · The Côte des Bœufs at L'Hermitage by Camille Pissarro (1877). Pissarro was Gauguin's actual teacher: from around 1879 the stockbroker painted beside him at Pontoise and Osny, learning the broken touch and the habit of exhibiting with the Impressionists from 1879 to 1886. Gauguin later repudiated the method, and Pissarro publicly soured on his former pupil's mysticism and 'borrowings' from the Pacific, but the apprenticeship in building a landscape from colored marks is the foundation of everything after.
• Influencia Obscura · Reliefs of the Borobudur Temple by Unknown Javanese sculptors (c. 800). Gauguin saw the Javanese village and Dutch colonial displays at the 1889 Paris Exposition Universelle and kept photographs of the Borobudur reliefs among his studio papers. The serene frontal figures, the processional friezes and the flat hieratic gestures reappear almost literally in Tahitian canvases and in the woodcarvings; figures in 'Where Do We Come From?' and 'Faa Iheihe' are posed straight from those plates.
• Local Roots · The Talisman (The Aven at the Bois d'Amour) by Paul Sérusier (1888). Painted at Pont-Aven on a cigar-box lid under Gauguin's direct instruction — pure zones of color laid flat, no modeling — and carried back to Paris where it became the founding object of the Nabis. Sérusier recorded Gauguin's advice to exaggerate hue rather than copy nature. No single small panel better documents the Breton summers in which Gauguin's Synthetism was transmitted to a younger generation.
• Beyond the Medium · Le Mariage de Loti by Pierre Loti (1880). Loti's hugely popular romance of a European officer and the Tahitian girl Rarahu shaped the Tahiti that Gauguin went looking for; he knew the book and the exotic literary vogue it created, and his own 'Noa Noa' adopts its first-person traveler's idyll. The painted Tahiti of reclining vahines and fragrant indolence is partly a literary construction inherited from Loti before Gauguin ever sailed.
• Peer · The Circus by Georges Seurat (1891). Seurat was Gauguin's chief rival for the leadership of post-Impressionism; the quarrel over studio space in 1886 helped push Gauguin out of Signac and Seurat's orbit for good. Both answered Impressionism by reimposing structure — Seurat through optical science and the divided touch, Gauguin through flat symbolic color — and the opposition defined the two routes out of 1880s Paris painting.
• From the Canon · Vision after the Sermon (Jacob Wrestling with the Angel) by Paul Gauguin (1888). The breakthrough: Breton women in white coiffes kneel in a vermilion field while Jacob wrestles the angel in their collective imagination, a tree slicing the canvas like a Japanese print. Nothing in the picture is observed color. Gauguin offered it to a local Breton church, which declined. This is Synthetism declared — flat zones, bounding line, and a subject that exists in the mind of the figures rather than in front of them.
• Key Collaborator · The Painter of Sunflowers (Portrait of Gauguin) by Vincent van Gogh (1888). Van Gogh painted this during the nine weeks Gauguin lived in the Yellow House at Arles, the most consequential studio partnership of the period: they painted the same subjects side by side, argued over painting from memory versus from nature, and the collaboration ended with Van Gogh's ear and Gauguin's flight to Paris. Their letters remain the richest first-hand record of Gauguin's theories in formation.
• Legacy · Les Demoiselles d'Avignon by Pablo Picasso (1907). Picasso saw the big Gauguin retrospectives in Paris in 1903 and 1906 and the ceramics and carvings hit him as hard as the paintings; he owned Gauguin's wood sculpture circle and signed a drawing 'Paul Picasso'. The permission to treat non-European form as live material for modern art — mask-faces, flattened bodies, color freed from description — passes straight through Gauguin into early Cubism.

What influenced Paul Gauguin

• Camille Pissarro (1830). The article compares Gauguin's pastel drawings to Pissarro's manner. (also via The Côte des Bœufs at L'Hermitage) “That summer, he executed some pastel drawings of nude figures in the manner of Pissarro and those by Degas exhibited at the 1886 eighth Impressionist exhibition.” (Wikipedia)
• Émile Bernard. The article links Gauguin's artistic aims to his appreciation of Bernard's art and stylistic daring. (also via Breton Women in the Meadow) “Gauguin was very appreciative of Bernard's art and of his daring with the employment of a style which suited Gauguin in his quest to express the essence of the objects in his art.” (Wikipedia)
• Olympia by Édouard Manet (1863). Gauguin painted a version of Manet's Olympia. “The inspiration for Manao Tupapau was two-fold: a free adaptation of Manet's Olympia which Gauguin had copied in 1891, and his reading of Jacques-Antoine Moerenhout's Voyages aux Iles de Grand Ocean in 1892.” (Web Gallery of Art)
• Voyage aux îles du Grand Océan by Jacques-Antoine Moerenhout. Gauguin read and was fascinated by accounts in a copy of Moerenhout's book. “The inspiration for Manao Tupapau was two-fold: a free adaptation of Manet's Olympia which Gauguin had copied in 1891, and his reading of Jacques-Antoine Moerenhout's Voyages aux Iles de Grand Ocean in 1892.” (Web Gallery of Art)
• État de la société tahitienne à l'arrivée des Européens by Edmond de Bovis. Gauguin read and was fascinated by accounts in a copy of de Bovis's book. “Gauguin was lent copies of Jacques-Antoine Moerenhout's [ fr ] 1837 Voyage aux îles du Grand Océan and Edmond de Bovis' [ fr ] 1855 État de la société tahitienne à l'arrivée des Européens , containing full accounts of Tahiti's forgotten …” (Wikipedia)
• Randolph Caldecott. Gauguin consciously imitated Caldecott's drawings. “The naive drawings of the English illustrator Randolph Caldecott , used to illustrate a popular guide-book on Brittany, had caught the imagination of the avant-garde student artists at Pont-Aven, anxious to free themselves from the conse…” (Wikipedia)
• Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire (1857). Les Fleurs du mal (Charles Baudelaire) — culture for Paul Gauguin (openlibrary.org)
• Le Mariage de Loti by Pierre Loti (1880). Le Mariage de Loti (Pierre Loti) — culture for Paul Gauguin (openlibrary.org)
• Voyages aux îles du Grand Océan by Jacques-Antoine Moerenhout (1837). Voyages aux îles du Grand Océan (Jacques-Antoine Moerenhout) — ghost for Paul Gauguin
• Reliefs of the Borobudur Temple by Unknown Javanese sculptors. Reliefs of the Borobudur Temple (Unknown Javanese sculptors) — ghost for Paul Gauguin
• Moche stirrup-spout portrait vessel by Unknown Moche potters. Moche stirrup-spout portrait vessel (Unknown Moche potters) — ghost for Paul Gauguin
• One Hundred Famous Views of Edo by Utagawa Hiroshige (1858). One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Utagawa Hiroshige) — culture for Paul Gauguin
• Still Life with Fruit Dish by Paul Cézanne (1879). Still Life with Fruit Dish (Paul Cézanne) — titan for Paul Gauguin
• The Rehearsal by Edgar Degas (1874). The Rehearsal (Edgar Degas) — titan for Paul Gauguin
• The Côte des Bœufs at L'Hermitage by Camille Pissarro (1877). The Côte des Bœufs at L'Hermitage (Camille Pissarro) — titan for Paul Gauguin

Peers and kindred spirits

• Vincent van Gogh (1853). Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh spent nine weeks painting together. (also via The Painter of Sunflowers (Portrait of Gauguin)) “my friend Paul Gauguin , an Impressionist painter, now lives with me and that we’re very happy together, he encourages me a lot often to work purely from the imagination.” (Vincent van Gogh: The Letters)
• Paul Cézanne. Cézanne worked with Gauguin in Pontoise. (also via Vision After the Sermon, Still Life with Fruit Dish) “The following two summers, he painted with Pissarro and occasionally Paul Cézanne.” (Wikipedia)
• Émile Schuffenecker. Gauguin and Schuffenecker are named among the artists who revisited Pont-Aven. “Gauguin's friendship with Émile Schuffenecker (1851-1934) dates back to his years working for the stockbroker Bertin: they met there in 1872, and worked together for several years before both left to embark on careers as artists.” (Christie’s)
• Jacob Meyer de Haan. The article identifies de Haan as Gauguin's painter friend from Pont-Aven. “Among others, a rather large job which De Haan and I have undertaken together: a decoration for the inn where we eat” (Vincent van Gogh: The Letters)
• Charles Filiger. The editorial note identifies Filiger as a participant in the Le Pouldu decoration. “The decoration for the dining room of Marie Henry’s inn at Le Pouldu (Brittany) was a collaborative effort by Gauguin , De Haan , Paul Sérusier and Charles Filiger .” (Vincent van Gogh: The Letters)
• Cloisonnism. The article describes Gauguin's work as evolving toward Cloisonnism. “Gauguin's work evolved towards Cloisonnism , a style given its name by the critic Édouard Dujardin to describe Émile Bernard 's method of painting with flat areas of colour and bold outlines” (Wikipedia)
• Symbolism. The article associates Gauguin's work with Symbolism. “whose work has been primarily associated with the Post-Impressionist and Symbolist movements.” (Wikipedia)
• Paul Sérusier. The editorial note identifies Sérusier as a participant in the Le Pouldu decoration. “The decoration for the dining room of Marie Henry’s inn at Le Pouldu (Brittany) was a collaborative effort by Gauguin , De Haan , Paul Sérusier and Charles Filiger .” (Vincent van Gogh: The Letters)
• Pont-Aven School. The article places Gauguin among the artists associated with the Pont-Aven School. “Gauguin, along with Émile Bernard , Charles Laval, Émile Schuffenecker and many others, re-visited Pont-Aven after his travels in Panama and Martinique. The bold use of pure colour and Symbolist choice of subject matter distinguish what …” (Wikipedia)
• Impressionism. Gauguin exhibited with the Impressionists before developing a distinct style. “He exhibited with the Impressionists in the early 1880s, but soon began developing his distinct style” (Wikipedia)
• At the Moulin Rouge by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1892). At the Moulin Rouge (Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec) — peer for Paul Gauguin “He is among the painters described as Post-Impressionists, with Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, and Georges Seurat also commonly considered as belonging in this loose group.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Charles Laval. Laval was an artistic associate who traveled with Gauguin. “Amongst these new associates was Charles Laval , who would accompany Gauguin the following year to Panama and Martinique .” (Wikipedia)
• Post-Impressionism. The article associates Gauguin's work with Post-Impressionism. “whose work has been primarily associated with the Post-Impressionist and Symbolist movements.” (Wikipedia)
• The Painter of Sunflowers (Portrait of Gauguin) by Vincent van Gogh (1888). The Painter of Sunflowers (Portrait of Gauguin) (Vincent van Gogh) — collaborator for Paul Gauguin “In 1886, he moved to Paris, where he met members of the avant-garde, including Émile Bernard and Paul Gauguin, who were reacting against the Impressionist sensibility.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Portrait of Gauguin by Meijer de Haan. Portrait of Gauguin (Meijer de Haan) — collaborator for Paul Gauguin “In May 1889 he travelled to Brittany, where in Pont-Aven he became friendly with Paul Gauguin.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Decorated stoneware vase by Ernest Chaplet. Decorated stoneware vase (Ernest Chaplet) — collaborator for Paul Gauguin “He worked on ceramics with Paul Gauguin from 1886; together they created some 55 stoneware pots with applied figures or ornamental fragments, multiple handles, painted and partially glazed.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Les Origines by Odilon Redon (1883). Les Origines (Odilon Redon) — peer for Paul Gauguin
• Calvary at Nizon by Unknown Breton stone carvers (16). Calvary at Nizon (Unknown Breton stone carvers) — geography for Paul Gauguin
• Breton Women in the Meadow by Émile Bernard (1888). Breton Women in the Meadow (Émile Bernard) — geography for Paul Gauguin
• The Talisman (The Aven at the Bois d'Amour) by Paul Sérusier (1888). The Talisman (The Aven at the Bois d'Amour) (Paul Sérusier) — geography for Paul Gauguin
• The Circus by Georges Seurat (1891). The Circus (Georges Seurat) — peer for Paul Gauguin

Who Paul Gauguin influenced

• Edgar Degas (1834). Gauguin is named among the artists whose work Degas admired and collected. (also via The Rehearsal) “Edgar Degas was Gauguin's most admired contemporary artist and strongly influenced his work from the beginning” (Wikipedia)
• Henri Matisse. The article places a Gauguin painting among works Matisse acquired from painters he admired. (also via Vision After the Sermon, Le Bonheur de vivre) “His work was influential on the French avant-garde and many modern artists, such as Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse” (Wikipedia)
• Pablo Picasso. Picasso's proto-Cubist development is stated to have been influenced by Gauguin. (also via Les Demoiselles d'Avignon) “His work was influential on the French avant-garde and many modern artists, such as Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse” (Wikipedia)
• Memory of the Garden at Etten. Van Gogh tried Gauguin's theory in Memory of the Garden at Etten. “While Vincent did briefly experiment with Gauguin's theory of "painting from the imagination" in paintings such as Memory of the Garden at Etten , it did not suit him” (Wikipedia)
• Cubism. The Cubism navigation box lists Gauguin under influences. “Influences Paul Cézanne Paul Gauguin Gustave Courbet Georges Seurat Paul Signac Maurice Princet Esprit Jouffret Neo-impressionism Pointillism Divisionism Symbolism (arts) Fauvism Proto-Cubism Chronophotography” (Wikipedia)
• Les Demoiselles d'Avignon by Pablo Picasso (1907). Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (Pablo Picasso) — legacy for Paul Gauguin (wikidata.org)
• Le Bonheur de vivre by Henri Matisse (1905). Le Bonheur de vivre (Henri Matisse) — legacy for Paul Gauguin (wikidata.org)
• Bathers at Moritzburg by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1909). Bathers at Moritzburg (Ernst Ludwig Kirchner) — legacy for Paul Gauguin (wikidata.org)
• Gustave Fayet. D'où venons-nous ? Que sommes-nous ? Où allons-nous ? (Paul Gauguin) — titan for Gustave Fayet (via D'où venons-nous ? Que sommes-nous ? Où allons-nous ?)