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I am a great artist and I know it. It's because of what I am that I have endured so much suffering, so as to pursue my vocation, otherwise I would consider myself a rogue - which is what many people think I am, for that matter. Oh well, what difference does it make. What upsets me the most is not so much the poverty as the things that perpetually get in the way of my art, which I cannot carry out the way I feel and which I would carry out if it weren't for the poverty that is like a straitjacket. You tell me I am wrong to stay away from the artist[ic] center. No, I am right; I've known for a long time what I am doing and why I am doing it. My artistic center is in my brain and nowhere else, and I am strong because I am never thrown off-course by other people and because I do what is in me.

Paul Gauguin#12

ArtIdentitySufferingBeliefPurpose

About this quote

What does it mean?
The artist claims certainty in their vocation despite suffering and external obstacles.
In plain terms
The artist knows they are right even if others disagree.
What can you take from it?
Trust your inner vision despite outside doubt.

Where it applies

  • creative struggle
  • career doubts

Putting it to work

  • stay true to vision
  • ignore outside criticism

Questions to consider

  • How do you know your path?
  • Can you be sure?

Another view

Certainty can sometimes blind one to valid feedback.

More from Paul Gauguin

  1. I am leaving in order to have peace and quiet, to be rid of the influence of civilization. I want only to do simple, very simple art, and to be able to do that…

    Permalink to quote #11
  2. A young man who is unable to commit a folly is already an old man.

    Permalink to quote #13
  3. Nature has mysterious infinities and imaginative power. It is always varying the productions it offers to us. The artist himself is one of nature's means.

    Permalink to quote #10

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