The first in-depth investigation of Gauguin's portraits, revealing how the artist expanded the possibilities of the genre in new and exciting ways Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) broke with accepted conventions and challenged audiences to expand their understanding of visual expression. Nowhere is this phenomenon more evident than in his portraits, a genre he remained engaged with throughout all phases of his career. Bringing together more than 60 of Gauguin's portraits in a wide variety of media that includes painting, works on paper, and sculpture, this handsomely illustrated volume is the first focused investigation of the multifaceted ways the artist approached the subject. Essays by a group of international experts consider how the artist's conception of portraiture evolved as he moved between Brittany and Polynesia. They also examine how Gauguin infused his work with symbolic meaning by taking on different roles like the Christ figure and the savage in his self-portraits and by placing his models in suggestive settings with alluring attributes. This welcome addition to the scholarship on one of the 19th century's most innovative and controversial artists reveals fascinating insights into the crucial role that portraiture played in Gauguin's overall artistic practice.

The book is edited by Cornelia Homburg and Christopher Riopelle and is being published to coincide with the exhibition of the same title to be held at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa (May 24 - September 8, 2019), and at the National Gallery in London (October 7, 2019 - January 26, 2020). The exhibition will display some sixty works by Gauguin - paintings, works on paper, and three-dimensional objects made of various materials - from public and private collections throughout the world. It is the aim of Gauguin. Portraits to fill this gap in the scholarly examination of one of the leading figures in Post-Impressionism. There is much to discover about the attributes he endowed his models with and the evocative settings he chose for them, highly charged as these props were with symbolic meanings. This book, which is intended as a standard text in this specific field, includes essays written by an array of experts in Gauguin's work, all established scholars and young researchers. University and museum specialists combine their talents to explore in-depth the many aspects of the artist's portraits, often in the light of the remarks he made about his models. The authors focus in particular on the importance and different meanings portraits had for Gauguin in his oeuvre. Text in French.