Composition on the picture of Gauguin “Where we came from Who we are Where we are going”


Title The composition of the picture of Gauguin Where we came Who we are Where we are going

When Paul Gauguin first came to Polynesia, all creative questions were decided, as if by themselves, the soul came in harmony with the world, and the working method was balanced with ideas. Therefore, the Tahitian paintings have found harmony incredible.

The naive world, clean and simple, primitive, and fascinated Gauguin perfectly. And the green ocean. And the blue mountains. And juicy greens. And the inhabitants of this tropical paradise are as simple and clean as all around. And the paintings written in Polynesia resemble frescoes – pure color, smooth, without pronounced strokes, letter and amazing harmony in composition and color.

But this is the first time. Because in the second it did not work out.

The sick, tired Gauguin fled to his tropical paradise – and paradise was no longer the same. In his lovely tropics came Europe and settled down freely.

Primordial silence was drowned out by a phonograph, tropical twilight ripped through the cutting electric light, fragile harmony broke.

And need. And sickness. And depression. And a feeling of complete hopelessness. And thoughts of death.

In this difficult time, Gauguin also wrote his main picture, where he invested all the passion, melancholy, heat of the suffering soul, all the concentrate of his ideas – all his life.

He collected it from old and light sketches, from favorite images. “Where are we from?” “Where are we going?” does not answer all these main questions; its symbols are deciphered outside the ratio.

The picture is reminiscent of a fresco with a wide and clean color. For even greater similarity with the ancient fresco that has already begun to crumble, Gauguin left the top two corners yellow – with his signature and name. A picturesque canvas unfolded before the audience the whole human life.

On the shores of a dark forest creek, in the paradise blue jungle, where the flexible dance of trees, and the bright greenery, and the wonderful sky,

and the mountain on the horizon, people are surrounded by a blue stone idol: each of them is immersed in itself and into thought. The marvelous virgin nature surrounds people and is in complete harmony with them.

A sleeping baby is a black dog guarding him. Three women, frozen in joyful expectation. A young man ripping off a ripe fruit. Another young man, looking at the women with a surprised look, is immersed in deep thoughtfulness. A child carrying the fruit to the mouth. A woman walking towards the bird. Beauty and the old woman…

About the symbols and hidden meanings of this picture you can write a large book – the picture is inexhaustible, like the ocean and the jungle. From the most explicit and direct interpretations, such as the fact that life begins with infant dawn and innocence and ends with withering and contemplation, an attentive viewer, peering into details, comes to philosophical meditations about the unpredictability and complexity of being.

Why do scattered fragments of themselves converge in unexpected harmony? Why is the marvelous tropical paradise not causing a feeling of uncomplicated happiness? What kind of shadows are reflected in the water of the stream, and what does the cat that lacquer from the bowl mean?

Some of the questions were answered by Gauguin himself, warning the viewer of excessive primitiveness and straightforwardness in the search for meanings. For others, everyone can answer himself only. The picture “Where are we from? Who are we? Where are we going?” Gauguin considered his spiritual will.


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Composition on the picture of Gauguin “Where we came from Who we are Where we are going”