?uvre etrangement cerebrale, passionnante, inegale encore, mais jusque dans ses inegalites poignante et superbe. ?uvre douloureuse, car pour la comprendre, pour en ressentir le choc, il faut avoir soi-meme connu la douleur et l'ironie de la douleur, qui est le seuil du mystere. Parfois, elle s'eleve jusqu'a la hauteur d'un mystique acte de foi; parfois, elle s'efface et grimace dans les tenebres du doute. Et, toujours emane d'elle l'amer et violent arome des poisons de la chair. Il y a dans cette ?uvre un melange inquietant et savoureux de splendeur barbare, de liturgie catholique, de reverie indoue, d'imagerie gothique, de symbolisme obscur et subtil; il ya des realites apres et des vols eperdus de poesie, par ou Gauguin cree un art absolument personnel et tout nouveau; art de peintre et de poete, d'apotre et de demon, et qui angoisse.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Gauguin's work is emotionally painful yet powerful, mixing barbaric splendor with religious and romantic elements to create a unique, unsettling art.
- In plain terms
- His art is painful but strong, mixing barbarism, religion, and romance in a new way.
- What can you take from it?
- Embrace pain and mix styles for unique art.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What pain drives your art?
- What mix defines you?
Another view
The work's intensity might be inaccessible to many.
More from Paul Gauguin
Gauguin interests me very much as a man - very much. For a long time now it has seemed to me that in our nasty profession of painting we are most sorely in nee…
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Permalink to quote #26 How long have I been here? Henceforward for? I shall not know. For I have been traveling for too long. My bones too weary to remember my age. Hence, how long h…
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