THE CATHOLIC ART OF PAUL GAUGUIN

As is well known, Paul Gauguin and Vincent Van Gogh lived together for a disastrous three months. Among the many disagreements they had was the question of depicting iconographic images. For Van Gogh, a Protestant, that was anathema. For Gauguin, who was Jesuit educated, it was essential. Although he was fleeting in his practice of Catholicism (he embraced Buddhism and Theosophy as well), the iconography Gauguin had been exposed to was in his DNA. As many will sophistically point out, Gauguin was hardly a model of morality, but much of the negativity about him is exaggerated and/or downright myth (i.e. he left his job, wife and children to go paint. Actually, the stock market crashed and he lost his job, after which his wife, being used to a more substantial income, kicked him out). Still, ultimately, Gauguin was an aesthetic Catholic and, for a painter that is perfect. There have been several superb books and articles on the religious art of Gauguin, who, for me, with El Greco, is the most essential of Catholic painters.