Paul Gauguin Quotes

A collection of quotes by Paul Gauguin.

Paul Gauguin was a French post-impressionist artist, renowned for his innovative use of color and bold, symbolic style. He was born on June 7, 1848, in Paris, France. Gauguin initially pursued a career in finance, but his passion for art quickly took over, leading him to abandon his stable job to pursue his artistic ambitions.

Gauguin traveled extensively throughout his life, seeking inspiration from different cultures and landscapes. His travels to Tahiti, where he sought refuge from the constraints of Western society, greatly influenced his work. His signature style featured vibrant colors, simplified forms, and symbolic representations of nature and spirituality.

While Gauguin's work was not well-received during his lifetime, it had a significant impact on the development of modern art. He was a co-founder of the Pont-Aven School and the Synthetist style, which aimed to move away from naturalistic depictions and embrace the emotional and symbolic aspects of art.

Paul Gauguin's most famous works include "The Yellow Christ," "Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?," and "The Spirit of the Dead Watching." Despite facing financial difficulties and struggles with mental health, Gauguin continued to create remarkable art until his death on May 8, 1903, in Atuona, French Polynesia. His legacy as a pioneer of modern art continues to inspire and influence artists around the world.

It is the eye of ignorance that assigns a fixed and unchange

It is the eye of ignorance that assigns a fixed and unchangeable color to every object; beware of this stumbling block.

In art, all who have done something other than their predece

In art, all who have done something other than their predecessors have merited the epithet of revolutionary; and it is they alone who are masters.

The flat sound of my wooden clogs on the cobblestones, deep,

The flat sound of my wooden clogs on the cobblestones, deep, hollow and powerful, is the note I seek in my painting.

We never really know what stupidity is until we have experim

We never really know what stupidity is until we have experimented on ourselves.

Ignorance & Stupidity

The missionary is no longer a man, a conscience. He is a cor

The missionary is no longer a man, a conscience. He is a corpse, in the hands of a confraternity, without family, without love, without any of the sentiments that are dear to us. Emasculated, in a sense, by his vow of chastity, he offers us the distressing spectacle of a man deformed and impotent or engaged in a stupid and useless struggle with the sacred needs of the flesh, a struggle which, seven times out of ten, leads him to sodomy, the gallows, or prison.

I have always wanted a mistress who was fat, and I have neve

I have always wanted a mistress who was fat, and I have never found one. To make a fool of me, they are always pregnant.

Diets And Dieting

Art requires philosophy, just as philosophy requires art. Ot

Art requires philosophy, just as philosophy requires art. Otherwise, what would become of beauty?

There are two sorts of beauty; one is the result of instinct

There are two sorts of beauty; one is the result of instinct, the other of study. A combination of the two, with the resulting modifications, brings with it a very complicated richness, which the art critic ought to try to discover.

A hint - don't paint too much direct from nature. Art is an

A hint - don't paint too much direct from nature. Art is an abstraction! study nature then brood on it and treasure the creation which will result, which is the only way to ascend towards God - to create like our Divine Master.

$Life is hardly more than a fraction of a second. Such a litt$

Life is hardly more than a fraction of a second. Such a little time to prepare oneself for eternity!

Life has no meaning unless one lives it with a will, at leas

Life has no meaning unless one lives it with a will, at least to the limit of one's will. Virtue, good, evil are nothing but words, unless one takes them apart in order to build something with them; they do not win their true meaning until one knows how to apply them.

Do you know what will soon be the ultimate in truth?

Do you know what will soon be the ultimate in truth?

Sooner or later people will learn to recognize your worth

Sooner or later people will learn to recognize your worth

But I owe something to Vincent, and that is, in the consciou

But I owe something to Vincent, and that is, in the consciousness of having been useful to him, the confirmation of my own original ideas about painting. And also, at difficult moments, the remembrance that one finds others unhappier than oneself.

Art is either plagiarism or revolution.

Art is either plagiarism or revolution.

Life being what it is, one dreams of revenge.

Life being what it is, one dreams of revenge.

In art, all who have done something other than their predece

In art, all who have done something other than their predecessors have merited the epithet of revolutionary and it is they alone who are masters.

It is the eye of ignorance that assigns a fixed and unchange

It is the eye of ignorance that assigns a fixed and unchangeable color to every object beware of this stumbling block.