Paul Gauguin: why are you angry?

Abstract

The special exhibition, Paul Gauguin "Why Are You Angry" will revisit the story of one of the most mythologised figures in French art, concentrating particularly on the works he created in Tahiti. The exhibition will shed new light on the museum's collection, juxtaposing the works with historical material from both Gauguin's past and his present, and with international contemporary art. The story of Gauguin the "savage", who in 1891 abandoned Paris, his Danish wife and his five children to pursue a spiritual, artistic journey in the South Pacific, is a highly-prized story in the history of Western art. The Glyptotek challenges this narrative and uses a diverse selection of historical archive material, visual art and literature in a deeper examination of how the works Gauguin created in Tahiti were not an isolated phenomenon, but part of a larger political and cultural landscape. For example, the exhibition will examine how Gauguin's art was influenced by the popularised myth of Tahiti, which had flourished even before Gauguin's departure for the South Pacific, kindled by a century of Western imperialism and cultural history.