However, it can also mean a thrilling surfing ride to your destination. 12.Sailing in waves can make for a jarring, juddering experience and long, uncomfortable passages and at worst, a dangerous, boat-rolling hazard. Because he abandoned naturalistic colors and used formal distortions in order to achieve expressive compositions, Gauguin's work became an inspiration for many subsequent artists.ġ. He decided to leave Europe again in 1895, moving to Tahiti and later to Hivaoa, a more remote island in the Marquesas. Gauguin returned to France in 1893, where he was given a solo exhibition by Durand-Ruel that was not particularly successful. He not only made paintings but also created bold woodcuts and sculptures and was an avid writer. Upon his arrival, he was disappointed to find many expatriates and developed areas, yet he was still able to capture in his works an uncultivated spirit. In search of a more pure and unspoiled culture, he auctioned off his paintings in 1891 in order to finance a journey to Tahiti. For the next two years, Gauguin traveled often around Brittany. Theo van Gogh, who worked for Boussod Valadon & Cie, would in the meantime sell Gauguin's work. Succumbing to van Gogh's (q.v.) many requests, Gauguin agreed to travel to Arles and paint with the artist their characters, however, proved incompatible. The impact of these influences is evident in Gauguin's Vision after the Sermon: Jacob Wrestling with the Angel (1888, National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh), so far removed from his earlier impressionist style. Gauguin also studied Japanese prints and Indonesian art. Gauguin distanced himself from impressionism and in 1888 worked in Pont-Aven with Émile Bernard (1868-1941), who had been experimenting with creating compositions using flat areas of color and dark outlines (cloissonism). He returned to Paris in 1886 and met ceramicist Ernest Chaplet (1835-1909), who introduced him to his métier. In 1884 he moved with his wife and children to Rouen and then to Copenhagen, but he failed to earn a comfortable living.

In 1883 Gauguin decided to become a full-time artist. He went to Pontoise in 1882, where he painted with Cézanne and Pissarro, who along with Degas continued to influence him at this period. Durand-Ruel began purchasing his paintings, and in turn Gauguin started to collect the works of his colleagues, such as Manet (q.v.) and Renoir (q.v.) and, in particular, Cézanne (q.v.) and Pissarro. Gauguin had already started painting and sculpting in his spare time and first exhibited at the Salon in 1876 with a landscape.1 He was asked by Pissarro (q.v.) and Degas (q.v.) to participate in the fourth impressionist exhibition in 1879, where from then on he would exhibit regularly. The following year he married a Danish woman, Mette Gad. In 1872 Arosa found a job for Gauguin at a brokerage firm, giving him financial security. Arosa's collection included works by Corot (q.v.), Courbet (q.v.), Delacroix (q.v.), and the Barbizon painters, and it was he who would encourage Gauguin to start painting. When Gauguin's mother died in 1868, Gustave Arosa, an art collector and photographer, became his legal guardian. He joined the merchant marine when he was seventeen and began traveling around South America. In 1855 his mother took him back to France where he attended boarding school. Gauguin spent the first seven years of his life with his mother and great uncle in Peru.

Into the waves