Gauguin, Paul (1848-1903)
Paysage avec un cheval (Landscape with a Horse)
1899
Oil on burlap, 70.8 x 44.5 cm
Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis
In this scene Paul Gauguin depicted a group of huts and a single wild horse against a range of distant, looming mountains. The artist used his trademark areas of flat, arbitrary color, seen in the foliage and sky, for decorative effect while his rough burlap canvas creates an intentionally unrefined paint surface. Gauguin traveled to the French colony of Tahiti in the 1890s in search of an unspoiled paradise and a counterpoint to what he perceived as the decadence and spiritual bankruptcy of European civilization. Once there he became fascinated by the lush tropical landscape of the island. (SLAM)