Paul Gauguin

The Yellow Christ

  Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) was a French painter, a pioneer of post-impressionism, was born in Paris. In 1871 after a brief naval career, Gauguin became a Paris broker. At the same time, he took up painting as a hobby. During these years, after ad-vice and encouragement from paint­er Camille Pissarro, Gauguin spent most of his leisure in painting.
  In 1883 he resigned his position in the brokerage firm, left his wife and children, and traveled on his own. He spent some time in Pont-Aven, Brittany, and the island of Martinique. In 1888 he joined his friend Vincent van Gogh in Arles, France. Gauguin remained only a short time, as Van Gogh was undergoing great mental anguish.
  In 1891, attracted by the primitive lure of the tropics, he sold all his paintings and went to Tahiti. He returned to France but became dis-gusted with the so-called decadent society of Paris. Gauguin went back to the South Seas to await his death.
His paintings are characterized by a vivid sense of decorative color and by string composition. His most famous works included "The Yellow Christ," "The Hospital Car­den at Arles," "Riders on the Beach," and "Woman of Tahiti."
  Paul Gauguin also produced excellent primitive wood carvings. W. Somerset Maugham's novel The Moon and Sixpence is based on the strange life of this eccentric genius.