A Guide to the Flower Paintings of Paul Gauguin
Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) is primarily celebrated for his revolutionary Post-Impressionist works depicting Tahitian life, but his flower paintings represent a fascinating and often overlooked aspect of his artistic development. Throughout his career, Gauguin returned to floral subjects, using them as vehicles for experimentation with color, form, and symbolic meaning.
Early Floral Works (1880s)
Gauguin's earliest flower paintings emerged during his Impressionist period in the 1880s. These works show the influence of his contemporaries, particularly Camille Pissarro, with whom he studied. However, even in these early pieces, Gauguin began diverging from pure Impressionism.
Key characteristics:
More structured compositions than typical Impressionist florals
Bolder color choices and less atmospheric effects
Simple ceramic vases and domestic settings
A sense of solidity and weight unusual for flower paintings of the era
Works like "Vase of Flowers" (1896) demonstrate how Gauguin treated flowers not as ephemeral subjects but as substantial forms with decorative power.
The Symbolist Period
As Gauguin developed his Synthetist style in the late 1880s, his approach to flowers became increasingly symbolic and decorative. During his time in Brittany and his association with the Pont-Aven School, flowers began appearing as symbolic elements rather than mere subjects.
Stylistic developments:
Flattened picture planes with reduced depth
Bold outlines (cloisonnism) surrounding color areas
Non-naturalistic, intensified colors
Flowers as symbolic rather than botanical studies
Integration with other symbolic elements
In paintings like "Still Life with Profile of Laval" (1886), flowers appear alongside other objects in carefully constructed symbolic arrangements, prefiguring his later Tahitian work.
Tahitian Flower Paintings (1891-1903)
Gauguin's most significant flower paintings emerged during his two extended stays in Tahiti (1891-1893 and 1895-1901) and his final years in the Marquesas Islands. The tropical flora of Polynesia profoundly influenced his palette and compositional approach.
Notable works and themes:
"Te Tiare Farani" (The Flowers of France) - This painting juxtaposes European flowers with a Tahitian woman, exploring themes of colonialism and cultural displacement.
"Sunflowers on an Armchair" (1901) - Created during his final years, this work shows Gauguin's dialogue with Van Gogh (who famously painted sunflowers) while incorporating his own bold, decorative style.
Characteristics of Tahitian flower paintings:
Exotic blooms: hibiscus, tiare, frangipani, and other tropical species
Vibrant, non-naturalistic colors: purples, oranges, pinks, and intense greens
Flowers often combined with figures or integrated into larger narrative compositions
Simplified, almost abstract forms
Rich cultural symbolism drawn from Polynesian traditions
Technique and Materials
Gauguin's approach to painting flowers reflected his broader artistic philosophy:
Color theory: He used color emotionally and symbolically rather than descriptively. A flower might be painted purple or orange not because it appeared that way, but because that color conveyed the desired emotional or symbolic effect.
Composition: Gauguin favored shallow picture planes with decorative, pattern-like arrangements. His flowers often appear pressed against the picture surface, emphasizing their two-dimensional, ornamental quality.
Brushwork: Unlike the broken, flickering brushstrokes of Impressionism, Gauguin applied paint in broader, flatter areas, creating a tapestry-like effect.
Symbolic Meanings
For Gauguin, flowers carried layered meanings:
Tiare flowers (Tahitian gardenia) represented Polynesian culture and frequently appeared in his depictions of Tahitian women, symbolizing beauty, femininity, and indigenous tradition.
European flowers in Tahitian settings explored themes of colonialism, nostalgia, and cultural collision.
Sunflowers served as a memorial to Van Gogh and represented friendship, artistic kinship, and perhaps mortality.
Decorative arrangements reflected Gauguin's interest in "primitive" art and his desire to move beyond Western naturalism toward a more universal, symbolic visual language.
Influence and Legacy
Gauguin's flower paintings influenced numerous artists:
The Fauves (Matisse, Derain) adopted his bold, non-naturalistic color approach
The Nabis (Bonnard, Vuillard) embraced his decorative, flattened compositions
Early Modernists found in his work a model for moving beyond representation toward abstraction
His treatment of flowers as vehicles for formal experimentation and symbolic expression helped liberate still life painting from its traditional constraints.
Viewing Gauguin's Flower Paintings Today
Major collections holding Gauguin's flower paintings include:
The Musée d'Orsay, Paris
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg
The Courtauld Gallery, London
The Art Institute of Chicago
Ellermann Flower Boutique guide
While Gauguin's flower paintings may lack the dramatic appeal of his Tahitian figure compositions, they reveal essential aspects of his artistic development. These works demonstrate his evolution from Impressionism to Synthetism, his sophisticated understanding of color theory, and his ability to transform humble subjects into vehicles for profound artistic and philosophical exploration. In flowers, Gauguin found a perfect subject for his belief that art should be decorative, symbolic, and emotionally resonant rather than merely representational.
