Gauguin & Polynesia: An Elusive Paradise

“It was the princess who entered my room. I was on my bed dressed only in a simple pareo [wraparound skirt]. No way to receive a woman of class…Vaitua was a true princess if indeed any still exist, since the Europeans have reduced everything in this country to their own level. In fact, she arrived there with bare feet, a flower at her ear and wearing a black dress.”

-From Noa Noa: the Tahiti journal of Paul Gauguin

Gauguin left France, his life as a stockbroker, a wife and five children to pursue his idealized dream of painting in Tahiti. Many of us have a vision in our mind’s eye of Gauguin’s Polynesia. We think of the remarkable portraits he painted of the islanders, so evocative of mystery, romance, or some other mood. We may think of the lovely patterns in the clothing, or the sense of landscape he captured. What do his paintings reveal, aside from the individuals, about his preconceptions and attitudes? What objects and localities inspired him?

Pam McClusky, one of The Seattle Art Museum curators for their current exhibit, Gauguin & Polynesia: An Elusive Paradise, will be at The Seattle Public Library to discuss Gauguin’s Polynesia in an illustrated chat at the Central Library on Wednesday, February 22, at 12:10 p.m. in the Microsoft Auditorium. The exhibit’s focus highlights the complex relationship between Paul Gauguin’s work and the art and culture of Polynesia. McClusky is the Curator of Art of Africa and Oceania for the museum and will bring her insights to the works. According to staff at the museum, the SAM Downtown exhibit includes about 60 of Gauguin’s brilliantly hued paintings, sculptures and works on paper, which are displayed alongside 60 major examples of Polynesian sculpture that fueled his search for the exotic. This exhibition brings Polynesian arts and culture into the center of a Gauguin presentation.

Gauguin, Polynesia is a book that was prepared for the exhibition and you can see more about the book and place a hold on it by visiting the library’s catalog.

-Carl K., Central Library