TAL_012 ISEENESEST_5 : THE PAINTER OF...
P.GAUGUIN 1888 / K.MÕISAKÖIS 2024
Background
The portrait was painted when Gauguin lived with Van Gogh in Arles. Van Gogh had asked Gauguin to stay with him and form an art colony that he referred to as "The Studio of the South".[1] After much urging and extensive correspondences, Gauguin agreed to move to Arles in October, 1888.[3] Gauguin was financially supported by Van Gogh’s brother, Theo Van Gogh, who paid Gauguin a stipend of 150 francs in return for completing one painting a month.[1]
Gauguin stayed in Arles from October to December, during which time the two artists found themselves regularly at odds.[3] The artists had differing opinions in regards to artistic expression and freedom of representation, and their contrasting beliefs led to tension between them.[4]
The completed Painter of Sunflowers was shipped to Theo Van Gogh on December 20, 1888, shortly after an incident between the artists during which Van Gogh allegedly threw a glass of absinthe in Gauguin’s face. Days later, on December 23, 1888, a disagreement with Gauguin was followed by the famous incident of Van Gogh severing his own left ear with a razor.[1] Afterwards, Gauguin wrote to Theo saying, "Everything considered, I am obliged to return to Paris. Vincent and I simply cannot live together without trouble, due to the incompatibility of our characters, and we both need tranquility to work".[5]
Gauguin admitted that his portrait of Van Gogh was not a perfect likeness, but he felt that he had captured his friend's intimate character. Van Gogh's initial impression of the painting was that Gauguin had depicted him as a madman; he stated, "It is certainly I, but I gone mad".[5] He later softened his view, saying, "My face has lit up after all a lot since, but it was indeed me, extremely tired and charged with electricity as I was then."[2]
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Though Gauguin and Van Gogh worked closely together, they had different influences on the style of their painting. While at Arles, Gauguin stated in a letter that Van Gogh "admires Daudet, Daubigny, Ziem and the great Rousseau, all people I cannot understand, and on the other hand he detests Ingres, Raphael, Degas, all people whom I admire."[10]
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