Paul Gauguin

He was born in Paris and worked as a stockbroker before devoting himself to art in his late 20s. Paul Gauguin began painting with colors in the 1870s. At first it was a Sunday hobby, and Gauguin modestly assessed his capabilities. Through Gustave Arosa, who loved art and collected paintings, Paul Gauguin met several Impressionists, enthusiastically accepting their ideas. The artist's school was impressionism, which reached its peak at that time, and the teacher was Camille Pissarro, one of the founders of impressionism.

After participating in several exhibitions of the Impressionists, the name of Gauguin sounded in artistic circles. In the mid-1880s, the crisis of impressionism began, and Paul Gauguin began to look for his own path in art. A trip to the picturesque Brittany, which preserved its ancient traditions, marked the beginning of changes in the artist's work: he moved away from impressionism and developed his own style, combining elements of Breton culture with a radically simplified style of writing - Synthetism. This style is characterized by a simplification of the image, transmitted by bright, unusually shining colors, and deliberately excessive decorativeness.

The phrase from Gauguin's letter "You can always find solace in the primitive" testifies to his increased interest in primitive art.

Gauguin's style, harmoniously combining impressionism, symbolism, Japanese graphics and children's illustration, was perfect for depicting "uncivilized" peoples. His paintings are metaphors full of harmony with complex meanings, often permeated with pagan mysticism.

The figures of people, which he painted from nature, acquired a symbolic, philosophical meaning. With color relationships, the artist conveyed mood, state of mind, thoughts: for example, the pink color of the earth in the paintings is a symbol of joy and abundance.

For most of his life, the artist lived in poverty, depression and illness, fame came to him only after his death, when about 200 of his works were exhibited in Paris in 1906. Nowadays, the public accepts and buys Gauguin's paintings for a lot of money. For example, in 2015, an unnamed buyer from Qatar bought Gauguin's painting "When is the wedding?" for $300 million. Gauguin's painting received the honorary status of the most expensive painting in the world.