The exhibition adds new layers to the story of Paul Gauguin (1848–1903), presenting his experimental explorations of ‘the primitive’. Featuring more than seventy works spanning every media employed by the artist, the exhibition offers an overview of Gauguin’s wide-ranging life’s work while also focusing on particular highlights. Gauguin’s pursuit of the primitive in the face of personal and financial difficulties was not fuelled by an interest in ethnographic matters, but sprang from an artistic vision. A vision that took on its own distinctive form across different cultures, ages and religions, making no concessions to established norms for artistic creativity and use of media. The exhibition explores the journey that led towards Gauguin’s personal, original artistic idiom.
