Look and learn

The greatest myth to affect Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) is the one of his own life: the romantic bohemian who escaped to the South Seas.

The greatest myth to affect Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) is the one of his own life: the romantic bohemian who escaped to the South Seas. This has spawned numerous popular interpretations from novels such as Somerset Maugham’s Moon and Sixpence to films which include Lust for Life (though principally about van Gogh, it features Anthony Quinn as an unforgettable Gauguin) and the Danish–French Wolf at the Door (1986). The danger with such an enjoyable myth as Gauguin’s back-to-nature nonconformist is that it is more than likely to obscure the real merits of the work the artist produced, with great seriousness and at great physical and emotional cost. It’s all too easy to view the work as a by-product of the myth, whereas the extraordinary and compelling originality of Gauguin’s paintings and sculptures are what should place him at the forefront of our attention.

The Tate’s new show, sponsored by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, concentrates on the artist’s narrative impulse, the stories he used as the framework for his beautiful paintings. Decoding symbolism may enhance aesthetic enjoyment, but a liking for the way Gauguin paints, draws and carves, for his genius at making things, has to be the primary response. My advice is to go round this exhibition and simply look: discover what you can see in these great works of art, and whether you like them. There’s plenty of time afterwards to take the catalogue (£24.99 in paperback) home and study it for hidden meanings. The direct experience of looking at Gauguin’s very particular colours and forms can never be reproduced in any publication; for that you have to be there.

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