Paul Gauguin. He is complex, ambiguous. Some consider him to be a genius, others do not understand his creations and personality. This article has no analysis of painting and thinking about his contribution to art. Here's a story about a man, about his values and weaknesses, his glory and oblivion. There is a lot of self-portraits — they are presented in chronological order and they say a lot even without words...
Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin was born in Paris on the 7th of June, 1848. He is a Peruvian Creole on one quarter, he was taken to Peru when he was three.
The boy went across the Atlantic on sailing ships of the merchant fleet, there were sailings in the cold Northern seas, the war with Prussia, the combat corvette. For seven years he rose from a common sailor to a marine lieutenant and he was put ashore. He worked at an exchange and his life went on smoothly...

Gauguin, portrait. 1885. The Kimbell Art Museum, the USA

His wife, a blond Danish woman, Mette was happy with her husband: he was calm, hard-working, abstinent. However he nearly strangled a colleague in a hall of a Paris exchange after he had jokingly shot down his cylinder. Five beautiful children, a comfortable home, with antique furniture, a private exit and an innocent hobby. Drawing.

Gauguin Mette asleep on a sofa, 1875. Private collection

However, poor Mette never knew, that the mansion, the exit, the bank account, the children, and she herself were a misunderstanding, an accident, unrelated to the real Gauguin.

Paul and Mette Gauguin

It all began simply: he quit his job. The stock broker Paul Gauguin was tired of making all this fuss. And then, so well for him, in 1884 in Paris, there was a financial crisis. A few failed deals, a couple of high-profile scandals, and now, Gauguin is in the street. Nothing prevents him from a complete immerse in painting, he turned his hobby into a profession, to write, to exhibit, to sell the paintings. It was a gamble of pure water: he didn't have experience and education, the right contacts, no support from wife and family.

A chicken flock, 1875. Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid, Spain

After a year of his artistic career, Gauguin was impoverished.
During the cold Paris winter of 1885 Mette took children and went to her parents to Denmark, their happy marriage collapsed. At first Gauguin sincerely believed that they broke up temporarily, and once his talent was recognized, they would get back together. He wrote letters to Mette all his life, he resented, bragged, shared hopes and disappointments. Did she believe him? There are no preserved letters in response from his wife.

Mette Gauguin in an evening dress, 1884. Private collection

It was cold winter in Paris, the freelance artist Paul Gauguin was painting. His eldest son, who did not want to leave with the mother caught a cold and his dad had no money to buy medicine, warm boots and paint. Friends helped them with food, sometimes Gauguin earned something, putting up billboards. Nobody bought his paintings.

Women bathing, 1885. The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, Japan

The Yellow Christ, 1889. The Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, the USA

And the audience barely understood him. In Brittany the mayor of a small town ordered a portrait of his wife. So there the "Lovely Angela" appeared. The real Angela was in shock: she had no idea that she was so wonderful! Narrow piggish eyes. A swollen bridge of her nose. Huge bony hands. And an exotic statue next to her, which she regarded as a parody of her husband, because he was smaller. Surprisingly, Angela did not rend the canvas in anger!

The Beautiful Angèle, 1889. Musee d'Orsay, Paris, France

He was not accepted, he was poor, but he wasn't sorry for anything. Gauguin knew that there would be glory.

Gauguin, Self Portrait with Halo, 1889. The library of the Arts Décoratifs, Paris, France

A man can have such an illusion — it is good there where we are not. Gauguin was totally obsessed with these illusions. To leave. From commitments, from having to earn a piece of bread. Where the people are pure and naive, nature is beautiful and pristine. He thought that the Islands of Oceania, Tahiti were paradise. He writes his masterpieces and proves to the conservative European society that he is genius!

Tahitian mountains, 1893. The Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minnesota, the USA

In February 1891, Gauguin held a major exhibition and sale of his works. He managed to raise nearly 10 thousand of francs, a sum more than sufficient to buy a ticket and start a new life. And for the grand farewell feast! Mette and his children didn't get a single sou from the money, only a letter with a promise that soon everything would be ok.

Gauguin, self-portrait, 1891. The National Gallery of Art, Washington, the USA

In April 1891 Paul Gauguin goes to Papeete, the capital of Tahiti. He has money and he is full of hope: very soon all the problems will fall away and he will happily draw beautiful girls in paradise! In Paris, the artist left the former model and his mistress Juliette Huet, who was expecting a child.

The Loss of Virginity, the model Juliette Huet, 1891. The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, the USA

On the day of landing on the island of his dreams Gauguin turned 43 years. Initially, the artist was accepted in the capital very well, many suspected that he came with a secret check and tried to please him. But...it quickly became clear that as an artist he was very peculiar: he repeated the story of the lovely Angela. Nobody wanted to book his portraits. Sharp, conceited, quarrelsome, Gauguin quickly soured relations with almost all Europeans, who lived in the Tahitian capital. In addition to all the difficulties Gauguin got sick with severe asthma, hemoptysis, weakness, he needed treatment in the metropolitan hospital.

Papeete, a photo, 1980

Money melted away, the capital disappointed him... And Gauguin went away at the invitation of the leader of a Maori tribe on the coast. He found a blue loincloth, painted and enjoyed the local custom: every night in the hut of a white stranger a new girl appeared. But they soon noticed that such an abundance of love oppressed, robbed his canvases. He wanted to find his woman, and he found her. In a the little coastal village he was offered cheaply to buy the girl, almost a young girl of 13 years, her name was Tekhuri.

The Ancestors of Tehamana, 1893. The Art Institute of Chicago, the USA

Gauguin was fascinated! Gold skin, black long hair, obedience, innocence, otherness, it all belonged to him! Tekhuri moved to his cabin and in his life a good period of peace, tranquility and contentment began.

Gauguin, portrait 1893. The Musee D'orsay, Paris, France

Beautiful Tekhuri was the muse of Gauguin, his model, he painted only her! He learned the language, the customs of her people, the beauty of nature and primitive life.

Spirit of the Dead watching, 1892. The Albright-Knox Art Gallery, New York.

Marriages of the French with local beauties were commonplace. Such marriages were made and dissolved one day by husbands and wives. A girl at any moment could return to her parents or marry another man which attracted her. No obligations. Marriage with Tekhuri brought Gauguin a practical favor: the wife and her family provided the artist with free food: fruits, fresh fish, wild boars meat, the natives were great hunters and fishermen!

Woman Holding a Fuit, 1893. The State Hermitage Museum, Saint-Petersburg, Russia

Tekhuri seemed to him to be a perfect woman. Silent, obedient, affectionate, almost a girl. She did not ask or demand, she gave love and admired him! He called her Noah-Noah — the fragrance: she rubbed into the skin and hair coconut oil with petals of hydrangeas, and Nawe-Nawe — the lust. Gauguin wrote about her a touching book, "Noah-Noah".

Tahitian Eve, 1892. The Grenoble Museum, Grenoble, France

But the dream of Gauguin was not in a cottage with a beautiful girl. He came for glory, he came to draw great paintings! In 1893 Gauguin returned to France, leaving the Islands when Tekhuri was pregnant.
He came back with four francs in his pocket, he got money for a return ticket from his friends. He returned to open an exhibition of his works. Before opening, to ensure that his talent was recognized officially, he offered a gift for the Luxembourg Museum — one of his best paintings of Ia Orana Maria. The curator of the Museum rejected the gift...

Ia Orana Maria, 1891. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the USA

Gauguin was so confident in the value of his Tahitian paintings, he believed them to be an outstanding phenomenon in art, that he appointed for each of them a relatively high price of 3000 francs. He was unshakable, he would not listen to any pieces of advise or requests from a few connoisseurs of his art to lower the price. All or nothing.
The exhibition opened at the Durand-Ruel gallery. 41 paintings, including some of the early paintings. The audience was puzzled. The paintings were not understood. They were not accepted. Red dog and blue trees?! Badly and pointless!

Naughty Joke, 1892. Museum d'Orsay, Paris

Blue Trees, 1888. The Ordrupgaard Museum, Copenhagen.

Newspapers, critics, with rare exception, everybody laughed at him! But no ridicule, no mockery, nothing could shake his confidence. His paintings were good and he was the greatest artist!
For two years he lived in Paris, wrote, tried to sell his paintings, swearing, making it up, falling in love, living ... The old heart disease returned, the legs were covered with festering sores, he had problems with his eyes. He had no money, no recognition. To leave! Not to leave for a dream, but to die. He gave a large part of the unsold paintings to his wife. In 1895 he went back, in Tahiti.

Self Portrait, Close to Golgotha, 1896. The São Paulo Museum of Art, Brazil

He was unable to return to Tekhuri who was married. Learning that Gauguin returned, she came to him, looked at his legs and returned to her new husband. But Gauguin went rampant with local women. "All night long desperate girls do not get out of my bed. Yesterday I had three at once," — he remembered.

Gold of Their Bodies, 1901. Museum d'Orsay, France

Gauguin writes a lot, carves wood. Full of love, he finds a picky young girl, Pahura. She's 14. No, he doesn't like her, but she gives him warmth, tranquility and home. They had two children, the first child died, the second survived. In the Hermitage there is the painting "Motherhood", which depicts Pahura nursing their son.

Motherhood, 1899. The State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia

Gauguin earns money for a piece of bread and a roof over his head by copying drawings in a run-down office. The disease progresses: fever, dyspnea, non-healing ulcers (they treated ulcers by rubbing arsenic). At times he completely lost his sight. In short periods of improvement, he still wrote, it was during this period when he created his painting "Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?".

Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?, 1898. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA

The last straw was the news of the death of his beloved daughter, Annette, and a complete, final break with his wife. Gauguin decides to end his life, he's sick, he's tired and there is no point in existence. The suicide attempt was unsuccessful: exhausted, poisoned by small doses of arsenic, the body of the artist rejected a too large dose of poison. He tormented for several days and survived.
Everything suddenly changed: as if suddenly somewhere in heaven a dam of bad luck broke. Some of the paintings were finally sold and he received from Paris 1000 francs! Ambroise Vollard appeared in his life. In exchange for the rights to buy without looking 25 paintings a year, he had to pay Gauguin 300 francs monthly and supply paints.
Money for treatment appeared, the disease retreated. Gauguin began to write notes in a local newspaper. These notes, quite unexpectedly bring him fame as a local fighter for justice and fees! He corrected his financial affairs, paid his debts.

Barbarian Tales, 1902. Folkwang, Essen, Germany

And he decides to move to the Marquesas Islands. Pahura with a two year old son did not go with him, but he did not insist very much. Fate brought him to the island of Dominique.
Gauguin once again engaged in painting... His legs were very sick and he could move only with the help of two sticks. On the handle the artist carved a giant phallus, on the other handle a loving couple was painted. Now both sticks are in the New York Museum. Gauguin had built himself a small hut, he covered the walls with wood carvings, his bedroom was decorated with Japanese pornographic prints.

He married, 14-year-old Vaako gave birth to his daughter. The morals of the tribe were free, and many islanders came to his cabin, some as models, others become his mistresses. But his favorite model was a redhead, Tohotua from a neighboring island, the wife of a local sorcerer. The famous "Girl with a Fan" is now in the Folkwang Museum in Essen.

Girl with a Fan, 1902. Folkwang, Essen, Germany

The glory of Gauguin began already then, tens of thousands of kilometers away from Tahiti, in France. People began to buy his paintings, they wrote articles about him. And he knew nothing about it and had a good time with local officials, published a newspaper edition of 20 copies (each now is as good as gold). He drank a lot, drew, cut wood, made love and felt like everything that owned him all those years leaving him. A man claiming to be God no longer existed.

Self Portrait, Gauguin, 1903. The Museum of Fine Arts Bern, Switzerland

He died at the nigh of May 9, 1903. In the headboard of his bed there was a huge syringe with traces of morphine. On his easel there was the last picture. A bishop read the burial service of the deceased, a gendarme sold his property at an auction (a sergeant was sent to the trash the most obscene drawings), the colonial authorities buried him and closed the case...

Fame came to him three years after his death: in 1906 in Paris 227 of his works were exposed. His paintings are now worth tens of thousands, and Mette didn't know what to do with herself: a fortune went by her hands.
A few years after the death of Gauguin she said to the correspondent of the "Gazette de France":
"Paul was a big kid. Yes, young man, he was a child — angry, selfish and stubborn. He made up all his strength — maybe Tahitian whores and foolish students believed him, but he could never hide it from me. Why do you think he married me? He needed rest, warmth, protection... Home. I gave him this, and he dumped me! He left me with five children, without a single franc... Yeah, I know what they say about me, and I don't care.
Yes, I sold his paintings and didn't send him a single coin. I forbade my children to write to him. Yeah, I didn't want to see him, when he came to Denmark... What are you staring at me like that, young man? I'm just being honest. Honestly, men are worse than women. And Paul, despite his fists he was a woman, until the devil told him that he was an artist. And he, damned egoist, began to dance around his talent. Now the evil told the same thing to all nerds that love to paint, and the rich fools pay for his stuff tens of thousands of francs... Curse them, I don't have his paintings, I sold everything for pennies!"

Mette Gauguin with her children

Then it was time to grieve for the descendants of innkeepers who gave him bad food and put him in the worst rooms. Gauguin paid with his works, which were used as beddings for cats and dogs, to repair home shoes, served instead of rugs — people didn't understand the eccentric's daub...Their grandchildren from year to year dig in attics and basements, in old things, hoping that among the rags smelling like mice, there are hidden piles of gold — a painting a poor hobo artist...

Tahitian landscape, watercolor on paper, 1897

P. S. The son of Gauguin and Pahura, Emil, was highly proud of his illustrious father, he was hoping to become a painter, but died in poverty in January 1980, at the age of 80.

P. P. S. His painting "When will you marry?" was sold in 2015 at the auction for $300 million.

When will you marry? 1892. The state organization "Museum of Qatar", Doha