Genius And Anxiety: Paul Gauguin
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ART AND ANXIETY 3 INTRODUCTION 3 BUFFET AND THE AGE OF ANXIETY 4 Who was Bernard Buffet? 5 Bernard Buffet and Anxiety 5 Paul Gauguin and Postimpressionism 7 Who was Paul Gauguin? 8 Paul Gauguin and Anxiety 9 CONCLUSION 13
ART AND ANXIETY
INTRODUCTION
If we look the word anxiety in the dictionary, probably we will find something like the following definition:
“Feeling of worry, nervousness or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome” (Oxford Dictionaries, 2003)
Being this a very literal and ambiguous definition, Sigmund Freud tries to explain it and goes a little further, separating it in three types of anxieties:
The first one is called Reality …show more content…
anxiety and basically occurs when the person is overwhelmed by different pressures and threats from an external event (for example a tsunami). We can say that in essence is a concerns and worry of actual world events. The second one is called Neurotic anxiety and it is an unaware terror of losing self-control or our urges, causing an inappropriate behaviour. For example, hit somebody.
The last one relates to feelings such as guilt and shame, and is a terror of doing something that violates our existing social norms (or moral code). For example, the moment we steal.
During this essay I will focus on the “reality anxiety” and how external events were able to create uncomfortable environments, generating anxiety.
The first is a more generalized unpleasant feeling that was lived as a society after the First World War. Bernard Buffet, who lived during this uneasy time, was able to reflect this anxiety through some of his paintings.
The second example, although is related with the “reality” of the time, it does not reflect a social anxiety, but a personal one. Paul Gauguin expresses very differently this anxiety from Buffet.
After understanding both of the artists´ contexts I will analyse paintings from them and see how this anxiety is revealed in their work.
BUFFET AND THE AGE OF ANXIETY
World War I was an overwhelming shock to Western societies and its values. Many countries lost big part of their population; there were more than 6 million Germans killed and more than 5 million of French people that also were killed during this time. And not only was the social issue hurt; the political uncertainties regarding the failure of the German and the Australian governments left small space for a possibility of progress. Europe was in a black hole and chaos was the only visible outcome; no possible progress could be seen. (Historyguide.org, 2009)
The artists and intellects became were thrown to a sense of loss, because “that a wonderful past” was not there anymore.
This uncertainty was experienced by Bernard Buffet, a French Painter. The following biography is needed so we can understand the internal context also for this painter.
Who was Bernard Buffet?
The French painter Bernard Buffet was born on July 10th 1928 in Paris. Part of the modernist movement called Expressionism and also a member of a group of anti-abstract art named “L´homme Témoin”.
In 1943 he studied drawing and painting and was accepted in Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts School. Buffet created different types of pieces, from landscapes to portraits, applying a linear drawing style. He also painted religious scenes.
His work was showed for the first time three years after he entered School and was recognized as a successful painter during the mid-fifties.
In 1948, he received the Critic’s Price in a Gallery in Paris, and exhibited a few months later his work in the same gallery (Saint-Placide). Another award that he received was the 10 best artists that painted the Post War, and was given by the Connaissance des arts magazine.
During his career Bernard Buffet exceeded the eight thousand pieces of work and got a lot of attention in Asia, where two museums in Japan are devoted entirely to his work.
At the end of his life, Bernard Buffet was unable to work anymore; he suffered from Parkinson disease and committed suicide in the south of France. (Bernard Buffet Museum)
Bernard Buffet and Anxiety
Buffet paintings and style were linked with the philosophical movement known as existentialism. In this movement, the person 's element is categorized by "the existential attitude", or in other words, a feeling of disorientation and non-clarity regarding the meaningless or absurd world.
Angst and Despair are concepts that are present in the existentialism. Angst – represented as fear or anxiety and this Despair is reproduced in existentialism as an absence of hope. Doing further, in some cases we can say that it is the interruption in some essential qualities of the person´s identity. Ironically we can put Bernard Buffet as an example of this case; at the end of this life he-the painter- suffered from Parkinson despaired and committing suicide having nothing else to fall back on.
This painting is called “Femme au verre de vin” and was painted in 1955 and it is 130 x 97 cm. We see a woman dreaming. The posture and eyes thrown us to think that. After understanding the external context, I do see the longing for better days. For me the bottle of alcohol gives the picture a more meaning of “hopeless” and anxiety that the person is passing by.
In the second one, is called “La Passion du Christ : crucifixion”, was painted in 1951 and it has the following measures: 280 x 500 cm. The postures are also important. Although we can see the two people at the sides with the covering their faces as a sign of sadness and desperation, for me the message that the women in the floor is sending, is a desperate as having both of their hands in the floor and looking
As a common patron in both of them I think it is important to focus in the colours that Bernard Buffet uses during this time. They are not bright colours and opaque. Also he tends to paint long and skinny bodies and faces, that for my, enhance the preoccupation and lack of happiness.
This dark outlines and not bright colours are characterized in the style of this painter, and a clear sadness is expressed.
Paul Gauguin and Postimpressionism
Post Impressionism took place at the end of the 19th century, and was not a strict art movement. The Post Impressionists were some autonomous artists who were against the restrictions of the Impressionism. This artist settled different particular styles and tried to centre on some elements that they felt were missing from the Impressionism such as: emotional, structural, symbolic and spiritual elements. The Post impressionism was marked by artists disappointed with the worthlessness of the subject matter. (Paul Gauguin Museum)
Some artists as the known Vincent Van Gogh that tended to utilize colours and energetic brush hits to express his feelings.
Who was Paul Gauguin?
Paul Gauguin was a leading Post-Impressionist painter.
He was part of an art movement called Symbolist not only as a painter but also as a sculptor, ceramist and writer. He was born in Paris the 7th of June, 1848.
Gauguin had a distinctive paining style, where he used solid lines and complex forms. He didn’t go to any art school nor had art training.
As a Child he lived in Peru, and after returning to France he entered the Navy and later on worked as a stockbroker, painting only as a hobby in his extra time. His work caught rapidly the attention of the Impressionist, a group of artists who used untraditional methods and topics, and were not too good accepted by the French artists.
In 1883 Paul Gauguin had left his job as a stockbroker so he can give his full time to art. During the following years he painted the “Vision of the Sermon”, one of the most well-known paintings.
Searching imaginative and creative liberty, he moved to Tahiti in 1891, but was disillusioned to discover that the island was westernized and went live far from the capital, among the native people.
We can see this experience reflected on his work; for example the “La Orana Maria” shows a Tahitian version of Jesus and his …show more content…
mother.
He chose the Marquesas Islands as another place to live in 1901, but his health was not the best. He died alone at his secluded home. After his dead he started to receive a better acclaim from the people and critics. (Biography.com)
Paul Gauguin and Anxiety
Paul Gauguin though that modern societies had become excessively materialistic and that the true realities of life were vanished. This is why during Brittany and Tahiti he lived with more primitives cultures, searching for faith to revitalize European’s culture and art.
The painted mythical worlds that no longer existed in reality, attached to the spiritual values he was looking for.
There can be seen a lot of anxiety in Gauguin Painting, and it is mainly because he was part of the symbolist movement.
It is not that symbolism reflects only anxiety, but they believe that art should reproduce an emotion or idea instead of the natural world (Something seen much in that moment with the impressionism).
The first painting is called The Yellow Christ and was painted in 1889, in France and it is considered one of the key paintings in Symbolism. In contrast with Buffet´s crucifixion painting, this has more vivid colours. We can see that the anxiety is not reflected in colours, but in different elements this anxiety.
We can clearly see that this painting is not reflecting reality; it is a landscape of the north of France (where it was painted), and Christ being crucified there. For me this is how sing the symbolism of the crucifix to capture the essence of anxiety. There is a deeper meaning. For example, it could be how he thought there is a lack of spiritualism during the era and in France.
The composition of the paining makes us instantly focus in the Christ. And although Gauguin uses the Yellow to focus the attention on Christ, for me, these three women in their knees, with their lost eyes, show well the hopeless and uncertain for
them.
The second picture, only by its name creates a certain anxiety: “Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?” It was painted during 1897-1898 and right now is in the Museum of Fine art of Boston.
Inside this painting there is a lot happening. It is not a small one, being 1.5 meters high and 3.60 m long. The competition of the painting is divided in three main parts; the first one, on the right, we can see a baby and three women that represent birth. It has to do with “Where do we come from?”.
The second one, we see the young adulthood of life. An androgenise person doing daily tasks (collecting apples). During the last part of the painting, we see a representation of the elderly, of death. Also it is important to state that Gauguin would commit suicide after finishing it, but he failed on doing it. The transmitted anxiety of Gauguin can be seen in the three parts of the painting. What is more suffocating that the search of these three questions?
He plays with colours to focus the attention on the symbolism that we want stand out. The elder woman at the left shows this fear and unknown of what will come, but also this religious sculpture can be understood as a connection to the spirituality that is very seen in Gauguin´s work.
This anxiety of death it is not new in him.
The Spirit of the Dead Keep Watch was painted in 1892 and is now in the Albright Knox Art Gallery. It can be seen a Tahiti woman (also recurrent in his work) laying in bed, as an old women awaits something. There is almost a contrast of the postures in this painting. The woman is clearly full with fear; she is tense and cannot move, while the other figure is there, only waiting.
We can see how Gauguin is able to transmit the emotions, and in this three paintings the anxiety.
CONCLUSION
During this essay I have tried to show how two artists reflected anxiety through their work. These artists lived in different times and had different types of painting styles, but were able to transmit that nervousness or feeling of worry in dissimilar ways.
Although there are three types of anxieties in Freud´s vision, the examples given show a relationship with the connection with the reality and how different situations can make us feel overwhelmed.
Bernard Buffet was able to transmit that loss of hope of what is to come, that was so common during the Age of Anxiety. Dark colours, faintly macabre style and strong lines help us to understand this anxiety.
Paul Gauguin shows a more personal anxiety, in contrast with a more general social anxiety reflected of Bernard Buffet. An anxiety of what the society and culture was transforming in; how materialistic the world was. The anxiety in not reflected as colours, but as whole; symbolism movement tried to reflect emotions, not rigid things.
To finish it’s important to clarify that I choose both artists painting crucifixion and there is a reason for that. Both artists, using similar elements are reflecting different meanings, but creating a noticeable anxiety.
REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
Anxiety. (n.d.). Obtained from Oxford Dictionaries: http://oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/anxiety
Bernard Buffet Biography. (n.d.). Obtained from http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/bernard-buffet-829
Bernard Buffet Museum. (n.d.). Obtained from Biography: http://museebernardbuffet.com/enbiographie.html
Bernard Buffet Museum. (n.d.). Obtained from http://www.museebernardbuffet.com/english.html
Biography.com. (2013). Obtained from http://www.biography.com/people/paul-gauguin-9307741
Buwono, J. H. (13/03/2012). Three types of anxiety according to Sigmund Freud. Obtained from Goarticles.com: http://goarticles.com/article/Three-types-of-anxiety-according-to-Sigmund-Freud/6217502/
Freud’s Theories On Anxiety. (03/09/2009). Obtained from Steve Lucas Counselling: http://counsellingcentral.com/freuds-theories-on-anxiety/
Jirat-Wasiutynski, Vojtech. Technique and Meaning in the Paintings of Paul Gauguin. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
Mather, R. (20/05/2007). Narcissistic Personality Disorder and Creative Art—The Case of Paul Gauguin. Obtenido de http://www.psyartjournal.com/article/show/mather-narcissistic_personality_disorder_and_cr
Paul Gauguin Website. (2013). Obtained from de http://www.paul-gauguin.net/
The Age of Anxiety: Europe in the 1920s. (2009). Obtained from The History Guide: http://www.historyguide.org/europe/lecture8.html
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. (2013). Obtained from http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/gaug/hd_gaug.htm
ART AND ANXIETY 3 INTRODUCTION 3 BUFFET AND THE AGE OF ANXIETY 4 Who was Bernard Buffet? 5 Bernard Buffet and Anxiety 5 Paul Gauguin and Postimpressionism 7 Who was Paul Gauguin? 8 Paul Gauguin and Anxiety 9 CONCLUSION 13
ART AND ANXIETY
INTRODUCTION
If we look the word anxiety in the dictionary, probably we will find something like the following definition:
“Feeling of worry, nervousness or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome” (Oxford Dictionaries, 2003)
Being this a very literal and ambiguous definition, Sigmund Freud tries to explain it and goes a little further, separating it in three types of anxieties:
The first one is called Reality …show more content…
anxiety and basically occurs when the person is overwhelmed by different pressures and threats from an external event (for example a tsunami). We can say that in essence is a concerns and worry of actual world events. The second one is called Neurotic anxiety and it is an unaware terror of losing self-control or our urges, causing an inappropriate behaviour. For example, hit somebody.
The last one relates to feelings such as guilt and shame, and is a terror of doing something that violates our existing social norms (or moral code). For example, the moment we steal.
During this essay I will focus on the “reality anxiety” and how external events were able to create uncomfortable environments, generating anxiety.
The first is a more generalized unpleasant feeling that was lived as a society after the First World War. Bernard Buffet, who lived during this uneasy time, was able to reflect this anxiety through some of his paintings.
The second example, although is related with the “reality” of the time, it does not reflect a social anxiety, but a personal one. Paul Gauguin expresses very differently this anxiety from Buffet.
After understanding both of the artists´ contexts I will analyse paintings from them and see how this anxiety is revealed in their work.
BUFFET AND THE AGE OF ANXIETY
World War I was an overwhelming shock to Western societies and its values. Many countries lost big part of their population; there were more than 6 million Germans killed and more than 5 million of French people that also were killed during this time. And not only was the social issue hurt; the political uncertainties regarding the failure of the German and the Australian governments left small space for a possibility of progress. Europe was in a black hole and chaos was the only visible outcome; no possible progress could be seen. (Historyguide.org, 2009)
The artists and intellects became were thrown to a sense of loss, because “that a wonderful past” was not there anymore.
This uncertainty was experienced by Bernard Buffet, a French Painter. The following biography is needed so we can understand the internal context also for this painter.
Who was Bernard Buffet?
The French painter Bernard Buffet was born on July 10th 1928 in Paris. Part of the modernist movement called Expressionism and also a member of a group of anti-abstract art named “L´homme Témoin”.
In 1943 he studied drawing and painting and was accepted in Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts School. Buffet created different types of pieces, from landscapes to portraits, applying a linear drawing style. He also painted religious scenes.
His work was showed for the first time three years after he entered School and was recognized as a successful painter during the mid-fifties.
In 1948, he received the Critic’s Price in a Gallery in Paris, and exhibited a few months later his work in the same gallery (Saint-Placide). Another award that he received was the 10 best artists that painted the Post War, and was given by the Connaissance des arts magazine.
During his career Bernard Buffet exceeded the eight thousand pieces of work and got a lot of attention in Asia, where two museums in Japan are devoted entirely to his work.
At the end of his life, Bernard Buffet was unable to work anymore; he suffered from Parkinson disease and committed suicide in the south of France. (Bernard Buffet Museum)
Bernard Buffet and Anxiety
Buffet paintings and style were linked with the philosophical movement known as existentialism. In this movement, the person 's element is categorized by "the existential attitude", or in other words, a feeling of disorientation and non-clarity regarding the meaningless or absurd world.
Angst and Despair are concepts that are present in the existentialism. Angst – represented as fear or anxiety and this Despair is reproduced in existentialism as an absence of hope. Doing further, in some cases we can say that it is the interruption in some essential qualities of the person´s identity. Ironically we can put Bernard Buffet as an example of this case; at the end of this life he-the painter- suffered from Parkinson despaired and committing suicide having nothing else to fall back on.
This painting is called “Femme au verre de vin” and was painted in 1955 and it is 130 x 97 cm. We see a woman dreaming. The posture and eyes thrown us to think that. After understanding the external context, I do see the longing for better days. For me the bottle of alcohol gives the picture a more meaning of “hopeless” and anxiety that the person is passing by.
In the second one, is called “La Passion du Christ : crucifixion”, was painted in 1951 and it has the following measures: 280 x 500 cm. The postures are also important. Although we can see the two people at the sides with the covering their faces as a sign of sadness and desperation, for me the message that the women in the floor is sending, is a desperate as having both of their hands in the floor and looking
As a common patron in both of them I think it is important to focus in the colours that Bernard Buffet uses during this time. They are not bright colours and opaque. Also he tends to paint long and skinny bodies and faces, that for my, enhance the preoccupation and lack of happiness.
This dark outlines and not bright colours are characterized in the style of this painter, and a clear sadness is expressed.
Paul Gauguin and Postimpressionism
Post Impressionism took place at the end of the 19th century, and was not a strict art movement. The Post Impressionists were some autonomous artists who were against the restrictions of the Impressionism. This artist settled different particular styles and tried to centre on some elements that they felt were missing from the Impressionism such as: emotional, structural, symbolic and spiritual elements. The Post impressionism was marked by artists disappointed with the worthlessness of the subject matter. (Paul Gauguin Museum)
Some artists as the known Vincent Van Gogh that tended to utilize colours and energetic brush hits to express his feelings.
Who was Paul Gauguin?
Paul Gauguin was a leading Post-Impressionist painter.
He was part of an art movement called Symbolist not only as a painter but also as a sculptor, ceramist and writer. He was born in Paris the 7th of June, 1848.
Gauguin had a distinctive paining style, where he used solid lines and complex forms. He didn’t go to any art school nor had art training.
As a Child he lived in Peru, and after returning to France he entered the Navy and later on worked as a stockbroker, painting only as a hobby in his extra time. His work caught rapidly the attention of the Impressionist, a group of artists who used untraditional methods and topics, and were not too good accepted by the French artists.
In 1883 Paul Gauguin had left his job as a stockbroker so he can give his full time to art. During the following years he painted the “Vision of the Sermon”, one of the most well-known paintings.
Searching imaginative and creative liberty, he moved to Tahiti in 1891, but was disillusioned to discover that the island was westernized and went live far from the capital, among the native people.
We can see this experience reflected on his work; for example the “La Orana Maria” shows a Tahitian version of Jesus and his …show more content…
mother.
He chose the Marquesas Islands as another place to live in 1901, but his health was not the best. He died alone at his secluded home. After his dead he started to receive a better acclaim from the people and critics. (Biography.com)
Paul Gauguin and Anxiety
Paul Gauguin though that modern societies had become excessively materialistic and that the true realities of life were vanished. This is why during Brittany and Tahiti he lived with more primitives cultures, searching for faith to revitalize European’s culture and art.
The painted mythical worlds that no longer existed in reality, attached to the spiritual values he was looking for.
There can be seen a lot of anxiety in Gauguin Painting, and it is mainly because he was part of the symbolist movement.
It is not that symbolism reflects only anxiety, but they believe that art should reproduce an emotion or idea instead of the natural world (Something seen much in that moment with the impressionism).
The first painting is called The Yellow Christ and was painted in 1889, in France and it is considered one of the key paintings in Symbolism. In contrast with Buffet´s crucifixion painting, this has more vivid colours. We can see that the anxiety is not reflected in colours, but in different elements this anxiety.
We can clearly see that this painting is not reflecting reality; it is a landscape of the north of France (where it was painted), and Christ being crucified there. For me this is how sing the symbolism of the crucifix to capture the essence of anxiety. There is a deeper meaning. For example, it could be how he thought there is a lack of spiritualism during the era and in France.
The composition of the paining makes us instantly focus in the Christ. And although Gauguin uses the Yellow to focus the attention on Christ, for me, these three women in their knees, with their lost eyes, show well the hopeless and uncertain for
them.
The second picture, only by its name creates a certain anxiety: “Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?” It was painted during 1897-1898 and right now is in the Museum of Fine art of Boston.
Inside this painting there is a lot happening. It is not a small one, being 1.5 meters high and 3.60 m long. The competition of the painting is divided in three main parts; the first one, on the right, we can see a baby and three women that represent birth. It has to do with “Where do we come from?”.
The second one, we see the young adulthood of life. An androgenise person doing daily tasks (collecting apples). During the last part of the painting, we see a representation of the elderly, of death. Also it is important to state that Gauguin would commit suicide after finishing it, but he failed on doing it. The transmitted anxiety of Gauguin can be seen in the three parts of the painting. What is more suffocating that the search of these three questions?
He plays with colours to focus the attention on the symbolism that we want stand out. The elder woman at the left shows this fear and unknown of what will come, but also this religious sculpture can be understood as a connection to the spirituality that is very seen in Gauguin´s work.
This anxiety of death it is not new in him.
The Spirit of the Dead Keep Watch was painted in 1892 and is now in the Albright Knox Art Gallery. It can be seen a Tahiti woman (also recurrent in his work) laying in bed, as an old women awaits something. There is almost a contrast of the postures in this painting. The woman is clearly full with fear; she is tense and cannot move, while the other figure is there, only waiting.
We can see how Gauguin is able to transmit the emotions, and in this three paintings the anxiety.
CONCLUSION
During this essay I have tried to show how two artists reflected anxiety through their work. These artists lived in different times and had different types of painting styles, but were able to transmit that nervousness or feeling of worry in dissimilar ways.
Although there are three types of anxieties in Freud´s vision, the examples given show a relationship with the connection with the reality and how different situations can make us feel overwhelmed.
Bernard Buffet was able to transmit that loss of hope of what is to come, that was so common during the Age of Anxiety. Dark colours, faintly macabre style and strong lines help us to understand this anxiety.
Paul Gauguin shows a more personal anxiety, in contrast with a more general social anxiety reflected of Bernard Buffet. An anxiety of what the society and culture was transforming in; how materialistic the world was. The anxiety in not reflected as colours, but as whole; symbolism movement tried to reflect emotions, not rigid things.
To finish it’s important to clarify that I choose both artists painting crucifixion and there is a reason for that. Both artists, using similar elements are reflecting different meanings, but creating a noticeable anxiety.
REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
Anxiety. (n.d.). Obtained from Oxford Dictionaries: http://oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/anxiety
Bernard Buffet Biography. (n.d.). Obtained from http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/bernard-buffet-829
Bernard Buffet Museum. (n.d.). Obtained from Biography: http://museebernardbuffet.com/enbiographie.html
Bernard Buffet Museum. (n.d.). Obtained from http://www.museebernardbuffet.com/english.html
Biography.com. (2013). Obtained from http://www.biography.com/people/paul-gauguin-9307741
Buwono, J. H. (13/03/2012). Three types of anxiety according to Sigmund Freud. Obtained from Goarticles.com: http://goarticles.com/article/Three-types-of-anxiety-according-to-Sigmund-Freud/6217502/
Freud’s Theories On Anxiety. (03/09/2009). Obtained from Steve Lucas Counselling: http://counsellingcentral.com/freuds-theories-on-anxiety/
Jirat-Wasiutynski, Vojtech. Technique and Meaning in the Paintings of Paul Gauguin. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
Mather, R. (20/05/2007). Narcissistic Personality Disorder and Creative Art—The Case of Paul Gauguin. Obtenido de http://www.psyartjournal.com/article/show/mather-narcissistic_personality_disorder_and_cr
Paul Gauguin Website. (2013). Obtained from de http://www.paul-gauguin.net/
The Age of Anxiety: Europe in the 1920s. (2009). Obtained from The History Guide: http://www.historyguide.org/europe/lecture8.html
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. (2013). Obtained from http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/gaug/hd_gaug.htm