With all of this in mind, if we return to Gauguin’s “Yellow Christ” it is evident that the inclusion of “Yellow” is more significant than the inclusion of “Christ.” This painting does depart from the natural world in its religious subject, but more importantly in the way in which Gauguin portrays this subject, no longer painting with the natural, “true” colors of Impressionism, but with the colors of his mind: surreal yellow and bold crimson. While the image of crucified Christ, Gauguin’s religious subject matter, reflects what he saw in the world around him, these colors reflect how he saw that world. Through these harsh, startling tones Gauguin successfully depicts a scene that is both primitive and also out beyond the limits of this world. Gauguin moved into the realm of the modern by depicting the world in this new, modern way – no longer dependent on the physical bounds of the natural world, but open to emotions and imagination. This new way of seeing led to a notion of painting that would dominate the century to come; a notion that allowed artists to paint not what was outside of them and their viewers, but instead what was inside of them -- their imaginative ideas and primitive desires.