Stuttgart and Synthetism

Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin, born on June 7, 1848, in Paris, died on May 8, 1903, in Atuona, on Hiva Oa in the Marquesas Islands. He was a French painter, sculptor, printmaker, and writer—one of the most important figures of Post-Impressionism and a pioneer of Symbolism and modern painting. Three years ago, we stood at his grave in Atuona. Today, we encounter his works again at the Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart. His mother was from Peru, where he lived until the age of seven—this shaped his love for the exotic, non-European world. At age 17, he joined the merchant marine and later the navy; he sailed around the world, got to know different cultures, and gathered impressions that would later shape his art. After his mother’s death and the end of the Franco-Prussian War, he returned to Paris in 1871. He became a stockbroker, earned a good living, married the Danish woman Mette Sophie Gad in 1873, and had five children—he led a middle-class, prosperous life. Beginning in 1874, he started painting, visited exhibitions, met Impressionists such as Pissarro, and participated in exhibitions himself. At first, painting was merely a hobby. In 1882, the stock market crashed; he lost his job and decided to devote himself entirely to art—his family moved to Copenhagen, he remained in Paris, and soon found himself living in poverty. He lived in Brittany (Pont-Aven, Le Pouldu), where he developed his style: flat areas of color, bold outlines, simplified forms, and symbolic content—moving away from realistic representation and toward the expressive power of color and form.

Paul Gauguin, State Gallery, Stuttgart

October 1888 to January 1889: Living with Vincent van Gogh in Arles, their collaboration ended in a quarrel and the well-known incident in which Van Gogh cut off his own ear. He rejected Impressionism, calling his art “Synthetism”—a fusion of perception, emotion, and artistic form. He fled Europe: the “civilized” world was too confining, too hypocritical, too materialistic for him. He sought simplicity, authenticity, and natural beauty. In 1891 he arrived in Tahiti but the island was already shaped by Europeans. He lived apart, painting his pictures: vibrant colors, mythical, tranquil scenes, a foreign culture. In 1893 he returned to Paris, exhibited his work, and wrote his book “Noa Noa”—but success eluded him; critics did not understand him, and he was poor and ill. In 1895, he returned permanently to the South Seas, first to Tahiti, then in 1901 to the more remote island of Hiva Oa in the Marquesas Islands. His health deteriorated: syphilis, heart problems, alcohol, pain—yet he continued to paint, wrote his memoirs (Before and After), and criticized colonialism and the Church. He died on May 8, 1903, at the age of 54, poor and almost forgotten, buried on Hiva Oa. Today he is considered one of the greatest painters of the 19th century. He freed color from its ties to nature, paved the way for Fauvism and Expressionism, and showed that art can also be an expression of longing, dreams, and a foreign world.

In 1888, Gauguin painted the work “Breton Women at Harvest Time". This painting is one of his most important works from Brittany and exemplifies his new style: Synthetism. He did not paint exactly what he saw, but rather what he felt: the simple, honest way of life of the peasants, deeply connected to nature. For him, this work was not a burden but something venerable, almost sacred—a life he perceived as more “primitive” and true than city life. He broke away from Impressionism (which painted only light and the moment) and used color and form as an expression of feeling and meaning. It is a precursor to his later works from Tahiti—even here he seeks simplicity, truth, and deeper meaning behind the everyday.

The portrait of his mother, Aline Marie Chazal, was painted between 1890 and 1893. It is a quiet, deeply personal portrait of his mother, who had died as early as 1867, so he painted her from memory and old photographs. She sits upright, calm and dignified, dressed in dark clothing, with a fair complexion, dark hair, and clear, serious eyes. The forms are greatly simplified, with clear outlines and no superfluous details—typical of his Synthetism. The colors are subdued: dark browns, greens, and grays; only the face and the light-colored collar stand out. The mood is not lively, but rather contemplative, almost solemn—like a keepsake.

When he returned to Paris in 1893, he exhibited it—but no one wanted to buy it. Most critics called his works "strange", "unfinished", or "ugly". It was only after his death (1903) that collectors and museums slowly began to understand what a genius he was. The Royal Woman. The painting changed hands several times until it was purchased in 1906 by the famous German art dealer Paul Cassirer in Berlin—he was one of the first to introduce Gauguin to Germany. The Staatsgalerie Stuttgart wanted to expand its collection with works of modern art—at the time, that was a bold move, as many people still considered these paintings “not real art". The director at the time, Hans Hildebrandt, did everything in his power to acquire this painting. He negotiated at length with the dealer Cassirer. The price was high: 125,000 marks—a huge sum for that time (comparable to the value of a large house). Many politicians and citizens in Stuttgart shook their heads: “So much money for a painting of an unknown woman in a red skirt?” There were heated discussions in the press and in parliament. But Hildebrandt stood his ground: He knew that this was one of the most important paintings of the 19th century. In 1909, it was finally purchased and came to Stuttgart—along with the portrait “His Mother". These two works remain the greatest treasures of the collection to this day. Today, it is one of the most admired works there—and no one questions whether the purchase was justified. On the contrary, people now say it was one of the wisest acquisitions ever made for the Stuttgart collection. Together with the painting “His Mother", it forms the centerpiece of the Post-Impressionist section. In any case, it’s well worth visiting the Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart. May you always have fair winds and keep a stiff upper lip.