The exhibition begins with a group of self-portraits, selected from the many that Gauguin painted throughout his life. Amongst this group, Bonjour Monsieur Gauguin, created in 1889, was inspired by his time working in the south of France with his friend and artistic rival Vincent van Gogh. Together they saw Gustave Courbet’s 1854 painting, Bonjour Monsieur Courbet in Montpellier. The encounter prompted a series of exchanges—and paintings—exploring a romanticised vision of the wandering artist, or the artist’s journey.
On the adjacent wall is Gauguin’s last self-portrait, titled Portrait of the artist by himself, a searching and searing image painted at Atuona in the Marquesas Islands in 1903, the final year of the artist’s life. In the following galleries, we examine Gauguin’s artistic beginnings, his technical experimentation across many art forms and discover the reasons he remains one of the most influential artists of all time.
