athena art foundation — Paul Gauguin: The Other and I

Paul Gauguin: The Other and I is the first exhibition in Brazil to critically address the central contents of the artist's work, focusing on two emblematic themes that emerge in the works presented at MASP: the self-portraits and works produced during his stay in Tahiti (French Polynesia), which became some of the best known of his career.

Born in Paris, Gauguin devoted himself, above all, to painting, being considered an emblematic figure in the history of art for standing out from the pictorial conventions of the 19th century. He spent part of his childhood in Peru and it was only at the age of 35 that he began to dedicate himself exclusively to artistic work. He spent time in regions of France, such as Brittany and Arles, where he lived with the Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh during the intense months in which they shared a studio.

Frustrated with the artistic scene of the Parisian metropolis and experiencing financial difficulties, the artist had the desire to go after another experience of the world, in which he could combine his painting with imagery beyond the standards of European culture. This is when Gauguin traveled to Tahiti, in French Polynesia, in 1891 and, after an interval of two years in Paris, he returned to the Pacific, where he would remain until his death, in 1903, in the Marquesas Islands.

Paul Gauguin: The Other and I is part of a series of exhibitions that, sine 2016 with Histories of Childhood, seeks to critically analyze canonical European artists in MASP's permanent collection, problematizing these works of tradition in the light of contemporary issues. These individual shows are placed in dialogue with the museum's annual cycle of exhibitions, as has already happened with Toulouse-Lautrec in red (on the year of Histories of Sexuality, 2017) and Degas (on the year of Histories of Dance, 2020).

The exhibition is part of MASP's annual program dedicated to Indigenous Histories. This year, the program also includes exhibitions by Carmézia Emiliano, MAHKU, Sheroanawe Hakihiiwe, Melissa Cody, in addition to the MASP Landmann lending of pre-Columbian ceramics and metals and the large collective Indigenous Histories.