Pont-Aven

During this period he worked alongside Emile Bernard to develop a manner of painting known as Synthetism. This style celebrated simplified reality and the synthesis that occurs when an artist does not paint from life, but from memory coloured by emotion. Reacting to the naturalism of the Impressionists, the point of Synthetism was to "paint an object the way the imagination perceived it, not as it really was". The artist could then disregard the shapes and colours of reality, and be free to express their effects on his emotions. Although the official creator of Synthetism, was Bernard, Gauguin was its greatest and most ingenious exponent. The shapes on the canvas were no longer meant to portray reality, but the impression left on the memory by reality. The artist could forego the rules of perspective, tone, shading, and chiaroscuro, and just apply the color on a flat surface, delimiting it with thick contour lines. This style paved the way for Expressive Abstraction.

In 1888 Gauguin completes The Vision after the Sermon. He offers the canvas as a gift to the parish priest of Nizon, but that rejects it. This landmark work shows Gauguin's shift from Impressionism to Symbolism. "I believe I have attained in these figures a great rustic and superstitious simplicity. The whole is very severe." Shunning traditional ideas about perspective, Gauguin uses flat areas of unmodulated colour framed by heavy blue-black outlines. "I believe that the landscape and the fight only exist in the imagination of the people praying after the sermon, which is why there is a contrast between the people, who are natural, and the struggle going on in a landscape which is non-natural and out of proportion".

The Loss of Virginity

Imbued with literary and pictorial references, from Manet's Olympic to Holbein's Dead Christ, this painting became the quintessential example of Symbolism. At the girl's head is a fox, the artist's symbolic representation of perversity. While the Impressionists wanted to celebrate the beauty of nature, Gauguin preferred to look inward and explore the subconscious mind. His works are the creative expression of his anxiety, fears, and imaginary visions. This painting is also known as Spring Awakening. In her right hand she holds a red flower, and with the left hand she strokes a fox. The animal rests one of his paws on the girl's breast in a subtly erotic fashion. Symbolist artists were the forerunners of the Surrealists. Inspired by the art of Edgar Allan Poe, Baudelaire, Flaubert, Wagner, and Burne Jones, they never acknowledged themselves as or gathered into a distinct cultural movement, nor did they adopt the same style or technique. Indeed, the term "symbolism" has only recently been coined by critics to indicate some unifying elements in the works of several painters with different artistic backgrounds and theories. This new current developed in France at the end of the 19th century, just as the Decadent style was flourishing.

Tahiti

On April 4, 1891, Gauguin left for Tahiti, where he arrived on June 9, after more than two months at sea. Following the trend he had started in Brittany, he executed many sketches of landscapes and people that he would later use for his main paintings. Called "documents", these initial rough sketches helped him understand the subtle colours and the effects of light of his new environment. He used to carefully observe and study people, hoping to capture their facial features and physical proportions, as well as their habits and gestures. Gauguin's drawings reveal a consummate skill, since by now he had become fully confident in his expressive means. In order to earn a living, he tried his hand at portraiture but, in spite of his contacts, the local European community was rather unreceptive.

The Flowers of France

The still life with flowers, a typical Impressionist subject, is given a new, exotic reading here. Gauguin's Polynesian experience altered his way of interpreting colour and light. Whereas in Brittany he had preferred pure, simple colours, in the Pacific he experimented with new shades and hues, positioned in an seemingly random way, that brought out the true radiance of the subject, as testified by these beautiful flowers. In this work the soft light seems to emanate from an indirect source. When he realized that his career as a portrait artist for the local European community was not likely to take off, Gauguin turned to the indigenous population, who had welcomed him with warmth.

Mataïea

Disappointed by Papeete's European flavour, Gauguin left the city to look for an environment that was still unspoiled and wild. He moved to the south of the island, where he rented a bamboo hut with a roof made of palm leaves. He lived in the thick of tropical vegetation, in front of a blue lagoon, with a girl of mixed blood who had accompanied him there, Titi.

What! Are you Jealous?

Thiswas a carefully designed picture. This is proven by the many preparatory sketches, especially those for the stretched-out figure, which was added later. Painted in 1892, it is kept in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow.

The pose of the broad, statuesque girl in the foreground is carefully studied. Her strong, decisive personality is revealed in the curve of the nose and the closed lips and, although her face is in profile, her right eye looks out towards the viewer in a mischievous, yet childlike way. Her black hair is in direct contrast with the crown of white flowers on her head, and her dark skin is highlighted by the bright pink sand on the beach.

Gauguin used colors rather than images to express the symbolic meaning of this work. This remarkable innovation greatly influenced later painting, and was a determining factor in the birth of Abstraction. The rapport between the two girls lazily lying on a sunny beach is evoked by their calm, relaxed attitude. The position of the girl in the background is unusual and indicative of Gauguin's desire to look for new artistic solutions.

In April 1893 Gauguin left Tahiti and, three months later, landed in Marseilles. Following the recommendations of Degas, who was a keen admirer of Gauguin’s art, the Durand-Ruel gallery organized his first great personal exhibition. He put 44 paintings and two sculptures on show. His works aroused a great deal of interest and caused a sensation. However, in spite of the enthusiasm of the young Symbolists, most of the critics and public failed to understand his art and remained unmoved by it.

On the eve of a later exhibition Gauguin asked Auguste Sprindberg, who had been a regular presence at his studio, to write the preface for his catalogue. The Swedish playwright refused, admitting that, although fascinated by Gauguin’s art, he could not “understand or love it”. Gauguin published the letter Sprindberg had sent along with his reply. In his letter Gauguin acknowledged “the enormous chasm between your civilization and my primitive state: the former weighs you down, while my uncivilized state to me is life itself”.