Gauguin unexpected at the Kunstforum Wien

Gauguin unexpected – 3.10.-19.1.25 at the Kunstforum Wien: An ambivalence between genius and colonial reality

The Bank Austria Kunstforum Wien is currently showing a comprehensive retrospective on Paul Gauguin until January 2025 – an exhibition that is being shown in Austria for the first time since the 1960s. Under the title “Gauguin – unexpected”, the multifaceted oeuvre of one of the most influential artists of modernism is presented. The show comprises over 80 works, including paintings, prints, woodcuts and sculptures, and follows Gauguin from his early post-impressionist beginnings to his significant influence on modernism.

What is particularly surprising in this context is that the exhibition has been realized at all. Planning for it began in the years before the pandemic and had to be postponed several times. The war in Ukraine also made it difficult to obtain relevant loans, particularly from the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. In today’s international art landscape, many museums are increasingly refraining from showing Gauguin in large-scale solo exhibitions, as his years in the French South Sea colonies and his controversial lifestyle can no longer be shown completely out of context. These aspects are difficult to harmonize with the critical perspectives that the post-colonial discourse brings to the art world.

However, Paul Gauguin’s significance for art history is undisputed. His innovative use of color, form and symbolism paved the way for movements such as Fauvism and Expressionism. But his works are far more than just aesthetic masterpieces. They also reflect a profound engagement with the societies he traveled to and the inner conflicts that shaped his artistic work. His travels to Tahiti and the Marquesas Islands in particular inspired him to create what are probably his best-known works – colourful and fascinating scenes that simultaneously bear witness to a romanticized and problematic depiction of “foreign” cultures.

However, while the exhibition focuses on Gauguin’s visual brilliance, critical aspects of his problematic relationship with colonial conditions and his controversial lifestyle remain largely in the background. Gauguin’s time in the French South Sea colonies is only marginally addressed in the exhibition, although it represents a central part of his later works and his personal mythology. This raises the question of whether the exhibition sheds sufficient light on the artist’s historical and social context. There is no comprehensive historical overview of the colonial system, and the actual examination of this topic has been relegated to the accompanying program.

Gauguin, a French artist of the late 19th century, began his career as a stockbroker in Paris before turning to art. His early creative phase was strongly influenced by Impressionism, but over time he developed a unique pictorial language characterized by bold colors and highly abstracted forms. His travels to Tahiti and the Marquesas Islands in particular inspired Gauguin to create his most famous works – colorful and extraordinary paintings of “foreign” women and landscapes that, from today’s perspective, are characterized by a highly problematic colonial perspective.

The exhibition “Gauguin – unexpected” highlights lesser-known facets of his work, including woodcuts and sculptures, which often served as preparatory works for his paintings. These works open up new insights into Gauguin’s creative process and focus on aspects that are often neglected in the usual retrospectives. However, despite these exciting additions, the “unexpected” in the exhibition remains rather subtle, as many of the controversial aspects of his life and work are barely addressed. More courage could have been shown here to venture a deeper, more critical examination of Gauguin’s connection to colonial reality.

The decision of the curators, Evelyn Benesch and Ingried Brugger, not to focus on Gauguin’s controversial legacy may seem disappointing at first glance. From an artistic perspective, the exhibition offers an impressive compilation of his works, which illustrate the artist’s profound influence on modernism. His powerful color surfaces and reduced forms influenced generations of artists and paved the way for later movements such as abstraction and expressionism.

Even if the exhibition treats Gauguin’s problematic relationships and personal transgressions rather discreetly, the value of his artistic innovations remains visible to the viewer. The retrospective presents a comprehensive overview of his entire oeuvre and shows the development of his artistic expression, ranging from the gloomy landscapes of his early years to the colorful, almost surreal scenes of the South Seas. His works from Tahiti in particular, which depict the life and landscape of the islands in rich colors, are among the highlights of the exhibition. But these works also raise the most pressing questions once again: How does one deal today with an artist who was so deeply involved in the colonial structures of his time?

Ultimately, Gauguin remains an ambivalent figure – on the one hand, a pioneer of modern art, on the other, deeply entangled in the paternalistic romanticism of the colonial era. The exhibition at the Kunstforum Wien invites visitors to explore these contradictions for themselves and to view Gauguin’s works in a new way.

The exhibition can be seen at the Kunstforum Wien until January 19, 2025.