Skip Channel4 main Navigation
In 1888, news of Gauguin's impoverished state reached Vincent van Gogh who had decamped to Arles, in the south of France. Gauguin and Van Gogh had made each other's acquaintance in Paris. Theo Van Gogh, Vincent's brother, was an art dealer who advanced both artists sorely-needed funds from time to time. Through Theo, Vincent Van Gogh pleaded with Gauguin to join him in Arles.
Convention now accepts the two months Van Gogh and Gauguin shared together as a significant turning point in art history. Not only did they (notoriously) mark one of the most vivid episodes in Van Gogh's fragile mental health, but they were seen, in retrospect, to catalyse a phase of intense artistic productivity for Van Gogh.
Convention now accepts the two months Van Gogh and Gauguin shared together as a significant turning point in art history. Not only did they (notoriously) mark one of the most vivid episodes in Van Gogh's fragile mental health, but they were seen, in retrospect, to catalyse a phase of intense artistic productivity for Van Gogh.
In fact, Gauguin had gone to Arles under sufferance. He was very hard up and the prospect of being bankrolled by Theo Van Gogh whilst he stayed with Vincent was only mildly more attractive than trying to make ends meet in Brittany. Vincent clearly wanted Gauguin's company more than Gauguin wanted his.
The two men were temperamentally completely different. Van Gogh was already in a vulnerable mental state. He'd 'strained every nerve in a last manifestation of power' before Gauguin's arrival (according to Van Gogh sister-in-law) preparing paintings which he hoped would impress Gauguin. But Gauguin wasn't that impressed. His iron will and strong capacity for debate and argument must have only served to strain Van Gogh neuroses further.
They could not see eye to eye about painters. 'Gauguin and I talked a lot about Delacroix, Rembrandt, etc. Our arguments are terribly electric, we come out of them sometimes with our heads as exhausted as an electric battery after it has run down..' wrote Vincent to his brother. They quarrelled bitterly, then made up. Vincent and his nervous disposition clearly irritated Gauguin hugely.
Their brief time together ended almost immediately after Van Gogh cut off part of his ear and then presented it as a gift to a prostitute on Christmas Eve. This act was the final straw for Gauguin. He had to telegram Theo, who dutifully came to his brother's assistance. Vincent's self-mutilation and delirium was too much for Gauguin who returned to Paris with Theo a few days afterwards
The two men were temperamentally completely different. Van Gogh was already in a vulnerable mental state. He'd 'strained every nerve in a last manifestation of power' before Gauguin's arrival (according to Van Gogh sister-in-law) preparing paintings which he hoped would impress Gauguin. But Gauguin wasn't that impressed. His iron will and strong capacity for debate and argument must have only served to strain Van Gogh neuroses further.
They could not see eye to eye about painters. 'Gauguin and I talked a lot about Delacroix, Rembrandt, etc. Our arguments are terribly electric, we come out of them sometimes with our heads as exhausted as an electric battery after it has run down..' wrote Vincent to his brother. They quarrelled bitterly, then made up. Vincent and his nervous disposition clearly irritated Gauguin hugely.
Their brief time together ended almost immediately after Van Gogh cut off part of his ear and then presented it as a gift to a prostitute on Christmas Eve. This act was the final straw for Gauguin. He had to telegram Theo, who dutifully came to his brother's assistance. Vincent's self-mutilation and delirium was too much for Gauguin who returned to Paris with Theo a few days afterwards
