After returning to France, Gauguin did not find civilization appealing, but he saw its image more disappointing than ever and in 1895, after two years of pause, he decided to return to Tahiti. As Boudaille writes, he fled from civilization because it rejected him, and he was unappreciated and scorned back in France (Boudaille 213). Moreover, as he declared at the end of his last French experience, he eagerly waited to return to Tahiti, as “the Europeans are unremittingly hostile to me; those good savages will understand me” (Druick 24). This proves how much the two years spent on the islands affected him: the more he interacted with barbarians, the less he felt comfortable among civilized people. His second trip had an even more important meaning for Gauguin, as he not only felt the need to return to the Tahitian isles, but he also wanted to further his search for primitivism, and to know in more detail and depth the Polynesian culture.
If we start to analyze the paintings and sculptures produced in this second Tahitian journey, we see how his relationship with the idol moved to another level, in that the loss of individuality with respect to the Tahitian symbols and his resignation towards the idol are reaching the final phases. For example, the sculpture Oviri (1895) shows an alarming point that the development of the artist has reached, as Gauguin leaves the phase of absorbing Tahitian cultural elements and starts to identify himself with the idol. The statuette resembles a barbarian deity, as its deformed animal head, feminine features and wild elements suggest. The long and messy hair of the figure strangely leans on a wild, probably mythical beast, whose head is distinguishable, but whose body melds itself into the body of the statuette. Not only is this depiction grotesque, but it also comes as a shock if we link it to Gauguin’s confession that the sculpture is actually a self portrait of him (Gravelaine 82). This terrifying image shows what level of barbarism the painter has reached, as he deliberately portrays himself as one with the wildness, a man in which the elements of civilization and individualism can no longer be distinguished, but in whom pure barbarism starts to shape up. As Gravelaine comments, Oviri is the “grandmother of origins” supporting the primitive aspect of the sculpture and the fact that it is a model for the culture that Gauguin embraced (Gravelaine 82). This primitive world strips the painter from what he had before, such as culture, religion and his inner self, making the artist lose any trace of his former personality.
Image:
Oviri - Savage. 1895. Musee d’Orsay, Paris