Paul Gauguin and the Wild Sea at Le Pouldu: Exploring Gauguin’s Departure to Tahiti through Line in His Seascapes

Simon Kheifets, Princeton Class of 2009

On the 6th of April, 1881, an ill, tired and poor Paul Gauguin embarked on a four- month journey by sea from Marseilles to the distant island of Tahiti to pursue a life of artistic purity (Burnett 119). This trip marked the end of a tragic life in Europe and a beginning of a new one in Tahiti. In the months before this, he had put all his energy and time into gathering as much money as he could to escape the life he lived in France. It erased any hint of Impressionism left in Gauguin’s art and nurtured the artist’s new Symbolist style (Burnett, 111). But what was it in France that drove Gauguin to such a desperate measure? Why did he give up everything he had and risk all he had worked so hard for in Europe?

The answer to these questions lies in the small port town in Brittany by the name of Le Pouldu. More precisely, the answer can be found in Gauguin’s paintings of this town’s coastline and the life he led while painting it. The wildness of the area brought out the savageness in the artist. His paintings there are much wilder and fiercer than any of his other works at the time. As such, Le Pouldu not only influenced the artist’s paintings, they influenced the artist. Throughout his relationship with the seafront town, it was evident that Gauguin’s opinion on European life and society gradually became more and more critical. Eventually this led to his final decision to abandon everything and leave for Tahiti. Whether it was his desire for the sea that drew him towards Le Pouldu, or whether it was Le Pouldu that itself inspired the artist’s longing for the sea is unclear. But the result of this relationship can be seen within the seascapes the artist painted: a natural progression towards the wild, the distant and the unknown. The use of line in his depiction of the coastline evolved concurrently with the artist’s own character. Both showed an increasing savagery and wildness drawing from the vivid coastline. Ultimately, this evolution culminated in the inevitability of a departure into the sea itself; away from the society Gauguin both feared and relied upon and towards a more savage unknown.

the exhibit
a wild history
first encounter
a return
flight
a final decision

works cited
about the author