1848-1903

Born in Paris to a French father and Spanish-Peruvian mother, Post-Impressionist painter Paul Gauguin is renowned for his audacious experimentation with natural imagery and exotic symbols. When he was just 3 years old, his family was forced to move to Peru due to political turmoil in France, but then returned to Europe at the age of 7. Gauguin later developed an interest in art when he was 19, which led to a career shift from stockbroker to professional painter. Disappointed with European painting, Gauguin explored Primitive art techniques in African and Asian painting. He would then become the first European artist to adapt such methods to his work and gain widespread success. Many of Paul Gauguin’s work are bright, bold and lively interpretations of Tahitian culture fused with quasi-religious and mythological imagery. His masterpiece work Where do we come from? (1897) is a Gauguin’s own fantasy-like depiction of the afterlife. Other paintings skilfully executed by Gauguin include Tahitian Landscape (1893) and Spirit of the Dead watching (1892). His grave now lies in French Polynesia.