PAUL GAUGUIN After painting as an amateur,Paul Gauguin
(1848–1903) took lessons with Pissarro and then resigned from his
prosperous brokerage business in 1883 to devote his time entirely to
painting. Like van Gogh, he rejected objective representation in fa-
vor of subjective expression. He also broke with the Impressionists’
studies of minutely contrasted hues because he believed that color
above all must be expressive and that the artist’s power to determinethe colors in a painting was a central element of creativity. However,
whereas van Gogh’s heavy, thick brush strokes were an important
component of his expressive style, Gauguin’s color areas appear flat-
ter, often visually dissolving into abstract patches or patterns.
In 1886, attracted by Brittany’s unspoiled culture, its ancient
Celtic folkways, and the still-medieval Catholic piety of its people,
Gauguin moved to Pont-Aven. Although in the 1870s and 1880s Brit-
tany had been transformed into a prof-
itable market economy, Gauguin still
viewed the Bretons as “natural” men and
women, perfectly at ease in their unspoiled
peasant environment. At Pont-Aven, he
painted Vision after the Sermon,or Jacob
Wrestling with the Angel (FIG. 31-18), a
work that decisively rejects both Realism
and Impressionism. The painting shows
Breton women, wearing their starched
white Sunday caps and black dresses, visu-
alizing the sermon they have just heard at
church on Jacob’s encounter with the Holy31-17Vincent van Gogh,
Starry Night,1889. Oil on canvas,
2 5 3 –^14 . Museum of Modern
Art, New York (acquired through
the Lillie P. Bliss Bequest).
In this late work, van Gogh
painted the vast night sky filled
with whirling and exploding
stars, the earth huddled beneath
it. The painting is an almost
abstract pattern of expressive
line, shape, and color.31-18Paul Gauguin,Vision after the
Sermon,or Jacob Wrestling with the Angel,- Oil on canvas, 2 4 –^34 3 ^1 – 2 . National
Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh.
Gauguin admired Japanese prints, stained
glass, and cloisonné enamels. Their influ-
ences are evident in this painting of Breton
women, in which firm outlines enclose large
areas of unmodulated color.
1 ft.1 ft.
Post-Impressionism 835