1.4.12

you want me to be

gauguin colors on a tuberose sunday


Paul Gauguin knew his palette and his voluptuous muse under tahitian skies, but more than those things, he can put down lines. Clean, sweeping, easy marks and it made me want to draw. Just pencil on paper simple marks, cartoons. So pretty. Seeing them up close I could just see them being drawn again and again in real time and it all felt so contemporary. The show at SAM was nicely put together, a really good story and you feel pretty sure of your Gauguin until one of the last paintings in the group, cat and vase and you think there it is, his humor and then you wonder if there was humor in the first bit and you were overestimating his seriousness about escaping and perhaps all he wanted was young blood and rum. His love for himself was summed up in this quote: "Be in love and be in happiness. Be Mysterious." Seriously beautiful, and still vibrant. Pearly pinks and crystal clear turquoise and purple dreams. His prints and the rest of the Tahitian work was also really stunning. The best thing in the show is Gauguin's old paint box.