<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="1" > which is a bit incredible. Cézanne, Gauguin and Van Gogh, three painters who had a major influence on twentieth-century art, although they all operated in Paris in their early years and had considerable ties with the Impressionists, their art blossomed after they left the big cities in the center of the arts. </h1>
High-rise self-portrait
In February 1888, Gauguin came to Puntawang in the Brittany region for the second time. It was here that he met Bernard, a young artist with a new idea, and the two founded "Synthesisism". They rejected the Impressionism's emphasis on conveying a direct visual view of the artistic view, emphasizing the synthesis of imaginary and recalled experiences through non-realistic and simple techniques. Gauguin's "Illusion After the Sermon", created in the same year, is the first masterpiece that clearly and completely reflects his artistic outlook and artistic style.
Post-sermon fantasy (Jacob wrestling with angels, Jacob wrestling with angels) 1888
The Visions After the Sermon is often titled as follows: "Jacob's Struggle with the Angels", because the illusions represented in the picture are related to the Bible. According to the Old Testament, Jacob, the ancestor of the Israelites, left his uncle Laban and, on his way back to his homeland, accidentally came to fight him one night by an unknown person. The uninvited guest could not defeat Jacob until the crack of dawn, and as he parted, he blessed Jacob, "You will no longer be called Jacob, and you will be called Israel, for you have won the battle with God and man." "Israel means the one who wrestles with God, and the nameless man is the angel. What the peasant women see in the painting is the illusion of their fighting.
Before we analyze this oil painting, it is interesting to listen to How Gauguin Xiang Van Gogh talks about "The Illusion After Ten Thousand Paths". "I believe that I have acquired a kind of rustic and superstitious innocence in these figures. All of it is very serious... For me, the landscape and the struggle on this painting as a consequence of the sermon exist only in the imagination of these praying people, which is why it is necessary to contrast the struggle in the unreal and disproportionate landscape with the real people. ”
From the above passage, it is not difficult to understand that gauguin's seemingly childish paintings contain very serious intentions, and that they are not the product of nonsense.
The composition of this painting is quite chic, it is far from the complete and comprehensive way of the classical tradition, and unlike the composition of Cézanne and Van Gogh that we see, it is the kind of large close-up composition of the film.
On Sunday, the priest was preaching, and a group of peasant women listened reverently to God's voice, and they felt the sight of Jacob fighting with the angels. Gauguin combines this reality and illusion in one place, but separates them with tree trunks that run diagonally through the picture. In the foreground of the painting is a close-up of a huge dead real character. In the lower right, only part of his face and shoulders are revealed, and his outer outline is somewhat close to Gauguin himself, perhaps the painter painted a priest with reference to his own image. The peasant woman had her back to us, and most of his form was cut out of the picture, which created a particularly interesting effect, as if we, the painters, were huddled behind them, looking over their heads and shoulders, feeling the illusion before their eyes as much as they did. In the distance, Jacob is wrestling nervously with the angel, and the red area without a sense of space plays a huge role in connecting the two groups of characters and rendering the atmosphere of illusion. This large area of red is purely subjective, unrealistic, and may only be produced in dreams and imaginations. This unreal color is like when we sometimes stare at the sunny outdoors and suddenly close our eyes and feel some kind of ethereal color floating in our eyes.
This free allocation of color is a feature of Gauguin art, and it is indispensable for creating this dreamlike effect. As he puts it, "Colors are like the vibrations of music, and we use skillful harmony to create symbols that acquire the ambiguous, most universal thing in nature, the most profound power in nature." "
Gauguin was one of the first artists to be interested in primitive art, and he saw in this simple art that seemed to come from instinct far more powerful vitality than civilized people. In this work, we can see his way of expressing himself like a primitive artist who has not received formal artistic training; the figure is sketched with the clumsy lines of a child's painting, the precise and beautiful shape of the unaccustomed western traditional painting, the delicate and delicate volume; only a few bright color blocks are painted within the contour line, like Japanese prints or some medieval works, but he is not as bold as Matisse's "Red Harmony". The depiction of the figure and the trunk of the tree also hints at a slight change of light and shadow and undulating.
Gauguin's paintings are completely devoid of the spatial depth that Westerners have been proud of since the Renaissance. The distinction between near, medium, and long ranges is blurred, but because of the strong contrast between red and white, the peasant women appear to be more prominent, making the fighting figures appear to be slightly backward. The tendency to flatten is an important manifestation of modern art, and Gauguin's works have a great influence on this tendency.
It is through the new form of breaking the tradition that Gauguin* powerfully conveys the atmosphere of unreal illusions, and obtains a very touching effect.
The literary art established by Gauguin is not difficult to feel connected with modern trends such as Nabiism, primitive art, and Surrealism; its shadow can also be found in the language of Fauvism and Expressionism.
Paul Zauguin was born on 7 June 1848 in paris to a family of journalists. His father was a republican advocate, and when Louis Bonaparte staged a coup d'état, he fled with his family to Peru and died of illness on the way. Gauguin's mother led the children to a relative's house in Lima, when Gauguin was only three years old. He lived in Lima for four years, and in 1855 his mother returned to France with two children for inheritance issues, living in his father's hometown of Orléans. Gauguin studied there and boarded a merchant ship at the age of 17 to become a seaman: he spent six years at sea and traveled to a number of countries. In 1871, Gauguin left the sea to work on the paris exchange, becoming increasingly economically prosperous. In 1873 he married a Danish woman and lived a comfortable life typical of a decent man.
However, Gauguin became obsessed with painting, and his heart stirred, and he spent his spare time painting, self-studying with the help of the well-meaning Impressionist painter Pissarro; at the same time collecting the works of the Impressionists. From 1880 onwards, Gauguin participated in several joint exhibitions by the Impressionists, exhibiting oil paintings and sculptures, which gradually gained some praise. Gauguin's original works still retained the characteristics of Impressionist painting, and the reproduction of natural elements was stronger. The famous Nude Study (1880) has a delicate depiction and a realistic tone.
In early 1883, Gauguin, who already had several children, suddenly told his wife that he had quit his job at the exchange and was determined to devote himself to painting. This is undoubtedly a feat of courage, because devotion to painting means that life is insecure, ridiculed and scorned.
Gauguin wrote excitedly: "I can finally paint every day." Next, Gauguin began a poor artist life, and the couple also fell out of harmony. In 1885, Gauguin left his wife and four children in his wife's hometown of Copenhagen, and returned to Paris with one of them to supplement the family by advertising. Despite the hardships of life, Gauguin continued to immerse himself in the world of artistic exploration, studying neo-Impressionist paintings such as Serra, becoming acquainted with Van Gogh, and painting in Puntawang in the Brittany region, which formed the basis of Gauguin's creative artistic activities.
In 1887, Gauguin set out for Martinique, where tropical golden sunshine and fiery colors injected an exotic beauty into his heart and influenced his artistic pursuits. The Baths of Puntawang (1886) and The Farmhouse on Martinique (1887) seem to reveal some element of pure Gauguin in the Impressionist style.
In 1888, Gauguin came to Puntawang again, where he, with a group of like-minded friends, founded a synthesisism that negated the principles of Impressionism and abandoned the tradition of realism. In establishing a new language that freely expressed the artist's inner experiences and fantasies, Gauguin borrowed a lot from primitive art, Japanese printmaking, etc., and he also absorbed certain elements of European medieval art. From this time on, Gauguin's unique style was established, and "The Illusion After the Sermon" (1888), "Self-Portrait with Bernard" (1888), "Yellow Christ" (1889), etc. were his representative works; the flatness of the decorative taste, the pure and bright subjective colors, the exaggerated and concise shapes and lines, made people feel an extremely bold and innovative spirit.
A group of artists led by Gauguin who were active in Puntawang also added a new term to the history of art, the Puntawang School. In October 1888, Gauguin was invited to Al by van Heights. A discord in character leads to tragedy, and after Van Gogh cut off his ear, Gauguin leaves Al. Although Gauguin had some young admirers, he was not recognized by society, and an exhibition of Impressionist and Synthesisist painters in 1889 drew public ridicule. At this time, Gauguin began to approach the symbolist literati circle and associate with the great poet Maralme.
Gauguin's antipathy to capitalist civilization was reinforced by his own difficult circumstances, and martinique memories made the world far from civilized people shine seductively in his heart. Gauguin finally made up his mind to live among the simple indigenous people.
In 1891, Gauguin auctioned off his works, held a farewell banquet, and on April 4 left his family, friends, and homeland for the French colony of Tahiti in the Pacific. In a pristine tropical environment, the most brilliant era of Gauguin art has arrived. That fresh visual feeling, that intense primitive life, made his inner illusion and enthusiasm gush out like a fountain. Blessed Mary (1891), The Flower Woman (1891), Wandering Soul (1892), When Will You Get Married (1892), Solitude (1893), Day of Worship (1894), Women of Tahiti (1896), Where Did We Come From? What are we? Where are we going? (1897) shows people a wonderful, mysterious, deep, and novel world. It contains a strong atmosphere of pristine tropical regions and a strong sense of sincerity. Gauguin once praised primitive art: "Primitive art proceeds from the spirit and uses nature, while the so-called refined art starts from the sense and serves nature." ”
Tahitian Women (1896)
His Creations in Tahiti embody the creative development of primitive art. Gauguin witnessed the brutality of the colonialists in Tahiti and was sympathetic to the indigenous population. Except for one halfway back to Paris, he spent the rest of his life in a world far from civilization. As the nineteenth century drew to a close, Gauguin's mental and health was in a state of collapse, and he tried to commit suicide, but was unsuccessful. In the autumn of 1901, Gauguin moved to Malkis Island for the sake of his life, where he provoked hatred from the administration and the bishop for his protection of the interests of the locals, and in an atmosphere of hostility, Gauguin died of an old and serious illness on May 8, 1903. In his final years, Gauguin also created works such as The White Horse (1898) and The Rider on the Beach (1902).
According to Gauguin, "Barbarism makes me return to old age", it is in the so-called barbaric land far away from capitalist civilization that Gauguin realized his rebellion against western traditional civilization and traditional art, and gained a unique brilliance of vitality that civilizational art does not have. In 1906, in a large retrospective exhibition of Gauguin held at the Autumn Salon in Paris, the lofty status of the recently deceased great artist was finally affirmed—the pioneer of modern art.