Talk:Paul Gauguin

Paintings

His description should include some famous paintings. Nandor1 (talk) 15:51, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

Before uploading two present images back in December, I made sure to expand the article, so that there would be enough text for these images. Generally, I think we should avoid overloading pages with images, especially on painters. Therefore I removed the Yellow Christ to the Cloisonnism article, which describes the painting in question, while inserting two links from the Gauguin page to that image. The second image recently added, definitely a minor work, was linked from the much more important Ta Matete and from the list of his major works (although the work is not major). I'd like to upload many more essentual artworks, such as the Red Bouquet or Buddha series from the Hermitage Museum, but will not do so, as I understand that Wikipedia is not meant to become an art gallery site. Ghirlandajo 07:35, 1 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I added the two that I did because Yellow Christ is one of his most talked about paintings, and the other is a good example of the sexuality and dark magic of his Tahitian paintings; as such, I believe they are even more representative than the ones that were on the page. I don't think the article is anywhere near being "overloaded" by images. As for Wikipedia not being meant as "art gallery site", I don't know where this comes from, either. I would love to eventually see individual articles for every major work of art, and list articles for every artist that would have pictures of all of their works with a brief description. How is that not encyclopedic? I'm replacing the images. Postdlf 01:59, 3 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Lifespan

When was Gauguin born and when did he die?

According to Britannica (http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9036212?query=Paul%20Gauguin&ct=) it's June 7, 1848 -- May 8, 1903. 85.234.35.187 10:08, 25 December 2005 (UTC)

Unknown title

There is a Gauguin image called Image:Gauguin12.jpg available. It was tagged as {{no source}} and may have been removed from this article. However, it must be in the public domain because Gauguin has been dead for more than 70 years. It's worth including in the article but I can't identify it. Perhaps someone else can? This image is called The Day of the Gods (Mehano no Atua), 1894

Gauguin's two wives

I'm new to this so don't want to mess about with anyone's article but in the bit about his family shouldn't something be mentioned about the two 'wives' he had at different periods in Tahiti. The first was 13 years old when they married (younger than his daughter Aline, i'm not sure?) she had a pregnancy that was terminated, and remained his wife until he returned to France. The second he married on his return when he discovered his first wife had remarried, she bore him two children.139.133.7.37 03:12, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

If you're certain of your facts (and especially if you have citations for those facts), there's no reason why you shouldn't be bold and add your information (and citations) to the article.

Atlant 12:47, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

It is actually pretty dismal that this article doesn't seem to have any information on his extremely sordid personal life. I think that its important to understand the life of an artist to understand their art. Especially a personal life as "colorful" as Gauguin's. I'll look for some sources.--Niro5 11:46, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

I support the original questioners point. I came to this article with the specific intention of finding the facts about the two renowned marriages to the teenagers in Tahiti. I love Gaugin, but respecting the work of an artist does not mean conveniently ignoring anything that may be viewed as unsavoury about their life. Never mind, I guess I'll visit the library! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.40.14.47 (talk) 17:38, 21 June 2008 (UTC)

Me too i wanted to find out about the tahiti teenage wives and the abortions for an essay i'm writing- i know i shouldn't be using wikipedia for essays but i thought it might be a good place to start to give me an overview before i did some proper research. Anyway, it didn't, i can't believe there is NOTHING here about any of it! 77.97.43.77 (talk) 04:37, 31 August 2009 (UTC)

You are both correct, our image of him was mainly invented by Gauguin himself, and some of the answers to your questions can be found in the book listed in the article: Nancy Mowll Mathews, Paul Gauguin, an erotic life, Yale Univ. Press 2001 and in this review article Amelia Hill, Gauguin's erotic Tahiti idyll exposed as a sham, The Guardian, 7 October 2001 hope that helps. Peter morrell 06:24, 1 September 2009 (UTC)

Split for list of paintings

Support I'm not that familiar with current conventions for visual artists, but a separate list seems to be standard for composers where such a long list of works is necessary but crowds the main article. --MarkBuckles 04:11, 27 May 2006 (UTC)

Main page

Put on main page that he was born today --Shandris 12:31, 7 June 2006 (UTC)

Imprisonment

In 1903, due to a problem with the church and the government, he was sentenced to three months in prison, and charged a fine. Surely, it is known what this socalled 'a problem' was. Probably worth detailing it in the article. Also interesting since the article seems to suggest that the church was involved in getting Gauguin sentenced. 20:21, 6 August 2007 (UTC)

WikiProject class rating

This article was automatically assessed because at least one article was rated and this bot brought all the other ratings up to at least that level. BetacommandBot 07:43, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

Date of death

I have changed his recorded date of death to 8 May, which appears to be the one most frequently cited, although 9 May also appears in a number of sources. Could the 8/9 May discrepancy possibly have something to do with the International Date Line, given the location of Gauguin's death? -- Picapica 20:59, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Calvins and Hobbes strip

Should there be a reference the the Calvin and Hobbes May 1, 1992 strip by Bill Watterson that specifically refers to Gauguin? http://www.marcellosendos.ch/comics/ch/1992/05/19920501.gif

The comic text follows:

Calvin (to mother): Paul Gauguin asked, "Whence do we come? What are we? Where are we going?"

Calvin (to mother): Well, I don't know about anyone else, but I came from my room, I'm a kid with big plans, and I'm going outside! See ya later!

(Blank panel of Calvin's mother looking confused)

Calvin (back from outside to mother): Say, who the heck is Paul Gauguin, anyway?

Rouge568 (talk) 02:13, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

I don't think we need this ... Wikipedia discourages trivia sections. Stumps (talk) 08:34, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

To ear is divine

Speculation at best, not accepted fact and needs independant corroboration...Modernist (talk) 22:08, 5 May 2009 (UTC)

Gauguin 'cut off Van Gogh's ear'

Vincent van Gogh did not cut off his own ear but lost it in a fight with fellow artist Paul Gauguin in a row outside a brothel, it has been claimed. It has long been accepted that the mentally ill Dutch painter cut off his own ear with a razor after the row in Arles, southern France, in 1888. But a new book, based on the original police investigation, claims Gauguin swiped Van Gogh's ear with a sword. The authors argue the official version of events contains inconsistencies. The book, titled In Van Gogh's Ear: Paul Gauguin and the Pact of Silence, is the product of 10 years of research by German academics Hans Kaufmann and Rita Wildegans. They looked at witness accounts and letters sent by the two artists, concluding that the row ended with Gauguin - a keen fencer - cutting his friend's ear off. Van Gogh then apparently wrapped it in cloth and handed it to a prostitute, called Rachel. Mr Kaufmann said it was not clear whether it was an accident or a deliberate attempt to injure Van Gogh, but afterwards both men agreed to tell the police the self-harm story to protect Gauguin. He said the traditional version of events is based on contradictory and improbable evidence, and no independent witness statement exists. "Gauguin was not present at the supposed self-mutilation," he told Le Figaro newspaper in France. "As for Van Gogh, he didn't confirm anything. Their behaviour afterwards and various suggestions by the protagonists indicate they were hiding the truth." Gauguin later moved to Tahiti, where he produced some of his most famous works. Van Gogh died in 1890 after shooting himself in the chest. (added by S. Wright)

Paint source

While its probably irrelevant to the article, it might be interesting to learn whence Gauguin obtained his paint while in Tahiti. Weepy.Moyer (talk) 13:17, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

Copyvio?

Large sections of this article are identical with the biography on www.paul-gauguin.net/biography.html (licensed under CC but forbids commercial use). Gugganij (talk) 19:24, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

I am removing the tag - The last line at www.paul-gauguin.net/biography.html - says FROM WIKIPEDIA. How do you know that it isn't the other way around....A lot of sites just copy text from Wikipedia...Are you certain that this site hasn't just copied our page? Modernist (talk) 19:42, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

I did some checking, and our bio predates theirs...Modernist (talk) 19:54, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for clearing that up. Gugganij (talk) 21:47, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Pronunciation Request for last name

Could someone please put a small ogg link to how to pronounce his last name? I have a dispute going. :) Kristinwt (talk) 18:52, 16 January 2010 (UTC)

Spelling "Gaugin" in book title

In the references, is the spelling "Gaugin" in the book title "Danielsson, Bengt, Gaugin in the South Seas, New York, Doubleday and Company, 1966" correct? Tashiro (talk) 04:53, 21 June 2010 (UTC)

Fixed, good catch...Modernist (talk) 11:30, 21 June 2010 (UTC)

Gauguin had been interested in art since his childhood. In his free time, he began painting...

The first line of the 'Early art career' opens with: "Gauguin had been interested in art since his childhood. In his free time, he began painting." This makes it sound as though he had been painting (or making art of some kind) since a young age but I've been reading short books on Gauguin over the past weeks - just collections of his work with short biographies, all unfamiliar to me until now - and each book has noted that he did not begin painting until adulthood, until his twenties. I've seen nothing to contradict that until coming here. Maybe it's just a poorly worded paragraph or maybe the suggestion is that he began work in childhood, I don't know. I don't want to edit the article myself, my knowledge of Gauguin comes from just a few books from the library and nothing more, but maybe someone else more thoroughly acquainted with the topic can correct that section if they see fit. At the very least, someone might find a citation for the claim he began painting in childhood if that's the claim being given.

As to possible references supporting the story that he began painting in adulthood, there's this here, which talks about the dating of his work and when he's thought to have begun:

http://www.jstor.org/pss/874680

It seems generally accepted that he began painting in the 1870s as earliest, it appears to me. For more references, just search Google for 'Gauguin painting as hobby.'--Breshkovsky (talk) 22:49, 31 July 2010 (UTC)

Done.[1] If the childhood bit is verified, it can be added to the previous section. Please feel free to use those few books as references to add to the article. Ty 02:04, 1 August 2010 (UTC)

Telegraph article re upcoming Tate exhibition

Folks here might be interested in reading & maybe referencing this Mark Hudson, Paul Gauguin at the Tate Modern: desire, death, myth, Daily Telegraph, 17 Sep 2010 recent article about the upcoming Tate retrospective which looks to be a superb and fairly comprehensive treatment of the great man. Peter morrell 20:09, 22 September 2010 (UTC)

Better is : Paul Gauguin and Van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin were two of the greatest painters of the late 19th century. A brief but intense collaboration occurred between the two artists.

They met in Paris in the autumn of 1887. Each man tried to learn from the other and admired the other's work. Their collaboration was marked at first by mutual support and dialogue, but there was also competition and friction.

The men differed sharply in their views on art: Gauguin favored working from memory and allowing abstract mental processes to shape his images, while Vincent held an unshakeable reverence for the physical reality of the observable world of models and Nature. This is reflected in the very different techniques each artist used. But toward the end of 1888, a series of violent incidents around Christmas Eve brought a dramatic end to their collaboration. This is the story of their personal and professional relationship — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gallery-of-art (talk • contribs) 05:54, 5 April 2011 (UTC)