http://www.stampandcoin.co.uk APRIL 2016 141G
auguin spent
some of his early
years in Peru
before moving to
France. Thanks to
family relations he
became quite a successful banker in
1871 and later married Mette Gad, a
Danish woman. However, this kind
of bourgeois family life didn’t satisfy
his artistic spirit. He wanted to do
something else and in 1884 he quit
his job at the bank to devote himself
to painting. The family moved to
Copenhagen but Gauguin soon
returned to France to pursue his
artistic career.
He was greatly influenced by the
contemporary impressionist painters
but after an 1887 meeting with
fellow artist Vincent van Gogh he
became more interested in catching
the primitive in his art.
Gauguin wanted to establish an
artists’ colony in the tropics but
when he went to Tahiti in 1891
he was on his own. He remained
there until 1893 busily painting
some of his best works. He used
strong colours in his paintings of
mostly Polynesian women with the
occasional man thrown in for good
measure. Frequently he included a
few words in the Tahitian language.
By the 1890s life in Tahiti had
changed considerably. The French
missionaries had introduced a
European dress code and French
culture was very present in local
life. Tahiti was not really the kind
of primitive world that had filled
Gauguin’s dreams.
Back in France the artist wrote
a book about his sojourn in the
Pacific. Fellow artists were also
beginning to appreciate his work.
However, Paul Gauguin still had the
strong urge to return to the Pacific
islands. In 1895 he was back in
Tahiti. By now he had completelyMany people dream about adding famous works of art to their homes but have to be satisfied with
reproductions. One of those celebrated artists is Frenchman Paul Gauguin (1848-1903), but,
as Christer Brunström explains, collectors can at least add his art to their stamp albumsabandoned his family in Denmark.
He chose to live with the Polynesians
and in 1901 even went to the
isolated Marquesas Islands in search
of a genuine Polynesian life and
culture. However, by that time the
Marquesan people had lost much of
their cultural identity.
When Gauguin arrived in Polynesia
in 1895 he was already in poor health
and he passed away in 1903. During his
last years he produced many of his most
important paintings which now are
the prized possessions of some of the
world’s major museums. As is often the
case, Gauguin never really benefitted
from the popularity of his paintings.
In 1953 the French Oceanic
Settlements marked the fiftieth
anniversary of Gauguin’s death by
releasing a 14 franc stamp depicting
a painting called Nafea Faa, ipoipo
(‘When do you get married?’). It isowned by the Basel Art Museum
in Switzerland.
In 1958 the territory’s name was
changed to French Polynesia and
the postal authorities were quick to
use paintings by Gauguin on their
stamps. A 1958 50 franc airmail
stamp shows Tahitian women on the
beach. This 1891 painting can now
be admired in the Louvre Museum
in Paris.
Another well-known Gauguin
painting in the Louvre Museum is
The White Horse, which was featured
on the 100-franc stamp in the 1958
airmail set.
Several other Gauguin paintings
have featured on stamps released by
French Polynesia. They were often
airmails with high denominations
but despite this they are still
affordable. Thus it is quite possible
to assemble a collection of Gauguin’s
Polynesian paintings. The stamps are
generally large in size and could even
be framed and featured as precious
works of art in your home.Stamp miscellany
Gauguin in the Pacific
From top: 1998 stamp
marking Paul Gauguin’s
150th birthday; the
‘Women of Tahiti’ on a
1958 stampBelow, from left: the
1953 value marking the
fi ftieth anniversary of
Gaugin’s death, another
value from 1958p141 Stamp Miscellany.indd 141 01/03/2016 12:05