Where can you see Paul Gauguin in Paris?

At the Musée d'Orsay: Arearea, Tahitian Women on the Beach and Self-Portrait with the Yellow Christ. Museums move and lend their works, so check before a special journey.

What is Paul Gauguin's most famous work in Paris?

Arearea, of 1892, at the Musée d'Orsay. Two women seated under a tree, one playing a flute, and a red dog in the foreground. The title means joyfulness. Painted on his first stay in Tahiti.

When and where was Paul Gauguin born?

On 7 June 1848, at Paris, France. Paul Gauguin died on 8 May 1903, at Atuona, Marquesas Islands, aged about 55.

What is Paul Gauguin known for?

Left a career as a stockbroker to paint. Lived and worked with Van Gogh at Arles in 1888. Sailed for Tahiti in 1891 and died in the Marquesas. Paul Gauguin was a French painter, of Post-Impressionism.

Painter, 1848 to 1903

Paul Gauguin

Gauguin gave up a career on the stock exchange and then Europe itself. The paintings he made in Tahiti, in colours nobody had used that way before, came home to the Musée d'Orsay.

Arearea, by Gauguin: two Tahitian women seated by a tree, one playing a flute, a red dog in front. — Paul Gauguin, Public domain

Tahitian Women on the Beach, by Gauguin: two women seated on the sand, one in a pink dress. — Paul Gauguin, Public domain

A photograph of Paul Gauguin in 1891. — Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel, Public domain

Born: 1848, Paris, France
Died: 1903, Atuona, Marquesas Islands
Movement: Post-Impressionism
In Paris: 3 works in 1 museum

Where to see Paul Gauguin in Paris

Each work with the museum it hangs in. Museums move and lend their works, so check before a special journey.

Musée d'Orsay3 works

Arearea
1892
Two women seated under a tree, one playing a flute, and a red dog in the foreground. The title means joyfulness. Painted on his first stay in Tahiti.
Tahitian Women on the Beach
1891
Two women sitting on the sand, close up and filling the canvas, in pink and red against a flat band of sea. One of the first pictures he painted in Tahiti.
Self-Portrait with the Yellow Christ
1890 to 1891
The painter between two of his own works, on the eve of leaving for Tahiti.

The life of Paul Gauguin

Gauguin was born in Paris in 1848, spent part of his childhood in Peru and worked as a stockbroker while painting on Sundays. In 1883 he gave up his job. He painted in Brittany, and in 1888 spent nine stormy weeks with Van Gogh at Arles, which ended with Van Gogh cutting off part of his own ear.

In 1891 he sailed for Tahiti. He came back once, and then left for good. He died in the Marquesas Islands in 1903, poor and ill. His flat colour and his turn away from Europe shaped Matisse, the Fauves and much of the art of the next century.

What to know

Left a career as a stockbroker to paint
Lived and worked with Van Gogh at Arles in 1888
Sailed for Tahiti in 1891 and died in the Marquesas

Born: 7 June 1848, Paris, France
Died: 8 May 1903, Atuona, Marquesas Islands

Paul Gauguin: common questions

Where can you see Paul Gauguin in Paris?: At the Musée d'Orsay: Arearea, Tahitian Women on the Beach and Self-Portrait with the Yellow Christ. Museums move and lend their works, so check before a special journey.
What is Paul Gauguin's most famous work in Paris?: Arearea, of 1892, at the Musée d'Orsay. Two women seated under a tree, one playing a flute, and a red dog in the foreground. The title means joyfulness. Painted on his first stay in Tahiti.
When and where was Paul Gauguin born?: On 7 June 1848, at Paris, France. Paul Gauguin died on 8 May 1903, at Atuona, Marquesas Islands, aged about 55.
What is Paul Gauguin known for?: Left a career as a stockbroker to paint. Lived and worked with Van Gogh at Arles in 1888. Sailed for Tahiti in 1891 and died in the Marquesas. Paul Gauguin was a French painter, of Post-Impressionism.