Coconut palms, pristine white beaches, crystal-clear azure waters,
natives leading modest but happy lives in peace and harmony and colourful
tribal festivities. In the early twentieth century a great many people in
the Old World dreamt of the South Seas. Burgeoning industrialisation and
increasing traffic were beginning to infringe on the peace of the cities
and the countryside alike, creating unnecessary stress and a hectic way of
life. The sparsely populated islands dotting the Tropic of Capricorn were
viewed as a veritable paradise in comparison. There, weary Europeans
thought they might find the unspoilt natural beauty of the Garden of Eden
and a people living in serene harmony in such an earthly paradise. That at
least was
Paul
Gauguin's
vision.
The Frenchman had spent several years at sea before embarking on a
brilliant career as a stockbroker. At the age of thirty-four he decided to
give up everything thinking, mistakenly as it turned out, that he could
live from his painting. His circumstances grew increasingly difficult. He
first moved to Rouen, then to Brittany, before settling in Aries with
Vincent Van Gogh, only to return to Brittany shortly afterwards. His
nomadic life inspired creativity, but led to a destitute existence,
ultimately causing an irreparable rift between him and his family. Finally, he abandoned his wife and children. The
prospect of leaving everything far behind may have sparked his love of
adventure, for soon he was on his way to Tahiti: "The future will belong
to the painters of the tropics because no one has yet painted them, and we
always need novelties for the general public, the stupid purchasers of
art." On 8 July 1891
Gauguin arrived at Papeete, the capital of the
Tahitian Islands. However, the paradise of "noble savages", which he had
thought might be free of the temptations, vices and defects of European
life, turned out to be a delusion. The light, the lush vegetation and
natural beauty, the exotic customs and friendliness of the natives did not disappoint him. Daily
life, on the other hand, was rife with the corruption and oppression that
accompanied French colonial rule, leaving a grey veil over the brilliant
colours of his South Seas Arcadia.
Gauguin married a Tahitian, settled
down in a typical Tahitian house and was soon in conflict with the French
colonial authorities. Beset by ill health and chronic poverty, he was
forced to return to Pans in 1893. Two years later he fled to the South
Seas again, first to Tahiti and then to the Marquesas Islands, where he
died in 1903 in a hut he had decorated with his paintings. Although his
dreams of paradise had not been fulfilled,
Gauguin painted powerful pictures full of joy
and serenity while in the South Seas. In one of his letters he declared:
"Life is so delightful here and my work so salutary that it would be
madness to seek this anywhere else."
