Paul Gauguin

Visual Arts French 1848 – 1903 53 quotes

A leading Post-Impressionist artist, he is recognized for his experimental use of color and synthetist style, particularly in his Tahitian period.

Quotes by Paul Gauguin

The eye sees what the mind believes.

Letters 1899

Art should be primitive, like the idols of old.

Interview 1895

I left Europe to find myself.

Letters 1891

Colors are the smiles of nature.

Tahitian Journal 1892

The bourgeois life suffocates the artist.

Avant et Après 1903

In art, one must dare everything.

Speech 1889

My dreams are painted in Tahiti's light.

Noa Noa 1896

The primitive is the true expression of humanity.

Journal 1897

I am not copying nature; I am creating it.

Letters 1894

Life's beauty is in its simplicity.

Personal Reflection 1900

The artist lives in a world of his own making.

Letters to Theo 1888

Sorrow is the seed of art.

Avant et Après 1903

Tahiti taught me freedom.

Journal 1891

Form follows the emotion.

Tahitian Sketches 1892

Europe's art is dead; long live the savage!

Interview 1895

I paint with my heart, not my eyes.

Noa Noa 1896

The mystery of life is in the unknown.

Letters 1901

Art is the language of the soul.

Speech 1889

In the islands, I found peace.

Journal 1897

The line is the backbone of painting.

Letters 1894