Paul Gauguin's exhibit at Les XX in 1889 was the first important display of

Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...

's works, and added to the recognition that he had begun to receive in 1888. The annual exhibition was organized by

Les XX ''Les XX'' ( French; "''Les Vingt''"; ; ) was a group of twenty Belgian painters, designers and sculptors, formed in 1883 by the Brussels lawyer, publisher, and entrepreneur Octave Maus. For ten years, they held an annual exhibition of their ar ...

, and participation was by invitation only. Gauguin's exhibit comprised paintings from

Martinique Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in ...

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

and

Arles Arles (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Arle ; Classical la, Arelate) is a coastal city and commune in the South of France, a subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the former province of ...

. Many of these can be identified easily, but for several items the discussion is not yet closed.

Background

After Gauguin's return from Martinique at the end of November 1887, he found support in Theo van Gogh, who showed Gauguin's recent work from the Caribics from December 1887. Since then, Gauguin evidently considered Theo van Gogh to be his dealer and promoter, and Gauguin also kept in touch with Theo's brother

Vincent Vincent ( la, Vincentius) is a male given name derived from the Roman name Vincentius, which is derived from the Latin word (''to conquer''). People with the given name Artists *Vincent Apap (1909–2003), Maltese sculptor *Vincent van Gogh ...

. When Gauguin finally accepted the proposition to live and work side to side with Vincent in

, he first sent a batch of recent work to Theo in Paris, who exhibited it together with the first batch of paintings sent from Arles, in November 1888. Around this time, Gauguin also received the invitation to exhibit with Les XX in Brussels, in February 1889. Theo van Gogh had forwarded

Octave Maus Octave Maus (12 June 1856 – 26 November 1919) was a Belgian art critic, writer and lawyer. Maus worked with fellow writer/lawyer Edmond Picard, and they together with Victor Arnould and Eugène Robert founded the weekly '' L'Art moderne'' ...

's invitation to Gauguin when Gauguin was already in Arles. Around the same time Gauguin received news that a collector named Depuis had agreed to purchase ''Breton Girls in a Ring'' (provided the artist made a minor modification), that two other of his canvasses had definitely sold, and — perhaps most significantly for Gauguin — that Edgar Degas intended to buy one of his paintings. Gauguin wrote to his friend Emile Schuffenecker with the good news of his invitation from Les XX. Shortly afterwards he received another invitation from

Édouard Dujardin Édouard Dujardin (10 November 1861 – 31 October 1949) was a French writer, one of the early users of the stream of consciousness literary technique, exemplified by his 1888 novel '' Les Lauriers sont coupés.'' Biography Édouard Émile Loui ...

of '' La Revue Indépendante'' to exhibit in their rooms. Gauguin quickly rejected this invitation due to a review that had appeared in the ''Revue'' almost a year earlier; it had been written by

Félix Fénéon Félix Fénéon (; 22 June 1861 – 29 February 1944) was a French art critic, gallery director, writer and anarchist during the late 19th century and early 20th century. He coined the term ''Neo-Impressionism'' in 1886 to identify a group of a ...

, and the artist had been described as ''grièche.''

Gauguin's shipment from Pont-Aven

In the days preceding his depart for Arles, Gauguin probably shipped all of his work executed since his arrival in Pont-Aven to Theo van Gogh in Paris: the recent ''

catalogue raisonné A ''catalogue raisonné'' (or critical catalogue) is a comprehensive, annotated listing of all the known artworks by an artist either in a particular medium or all media. The works are described in such a way that they may be reliably identified ...

'' by

Daniel Wildenstein Daniel Leopold Wildenstein (11 September 1917 – 23 October 2001) was a French art dealer, historian and owner-breeder of thoroughbred race horses. He was the third member of the family to preside over Wildenstein & Co., one of the most succe ...

lists more than fifty paintings, altogether. Six of these were later included in Gauguin's selection for Les XX, 1889.

Gauguin's shipments from Arles

November 13, Theo wrote to Gauguin that already two paintings were sold, and a third, ''la ronde de petites Bretonnes'', would need a minor rework to be sold, too. About ten days later, this rework was done, and the painting ready to be shipped back to Paris, together with four paintings recently executed in Arles.The identification of this set never posed problems: see Daniel Wildenstein (ed.) 2002, nos. 296, 318, 314, 320, 317. : ''1° Les danseuses'' : ''2° un café de nuit'' : ''3° Paysage ou les trois grâces au temple de Vènus'' : ''4° Les cochons'' : ''5° Le vendange ou la pauvresse'' Image:Paul Gauguin 032.jpg, ''1° Les Danseuses (1888). National Gallery of Art, Washington Image:Paul Gauguin 072.jpg, ''2° un café de nuit (1888). Image:Paul Gauguin 085.jpg, ''3° Paysage ou les trois grâces au temple de Vénus'' (1888). Musée d'Orsay, Paris Gauguin's second and final shipment from Arles coincided with his depart from Arles, end of December 1888. Evidently, he left only some minor studies back in the Yellow House – which he now offered Vincent van Gogh in exchange for the major version of the ''

Sunflowers ''Helianthus'' () is a genus comprising about 70 species of annual and perennial flowering plants in the daisy family Asteraceae commonly known as sunflowers. Except for three South American species, the species of ''Helianthus'' are native to N ...

'' – and his "masques et gants d'armes". Vincent refused categorically. By this time, his brother had already acquired Gauguin's portrait of Vincent, ''

The Painter of Sunflowers ''The Painter of Sunflowers'' (in French: ''Le Peintre de Tournesols'') is a portrait of Vincent van Gogh by Paul Gauguin in December 1888. The painting is exhibited at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Background The portrait was painted when ...

''.

Gauguin's selection

The dispute on identification of the items included continues.

Resources

Footnotes

References

* Delevoy, Robert L. (ed.): ''Les XX, Bruxelles. Catalogue des dix expositions annuelles'', Reprint: Centre International pour l'Etude de XIXe Siècle, Brussels 1981 (no ISBN) * Roskill, Mark: ''Van Gogh, Gauguin and French Painting of the 1880s: A Catalogue raisonné of Key Works'', University Microfilms, Ann Arbor 1970 * Wildenstein, Daniel (ed.): ''Gauguin. A Savage in the Making. Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings (1873–1888)'', Skira editore, Milan & Wildenstein Institute, Paris 2002 {{Paul Gauguin Exhibit at Les XX, 1889, The