Paul Gauguin: where to see him across these museums

Gauguin worked as a stockbroker in Paris through the 1870s, painting on the side, before giving up finance entirely in 1883 to paint full-time. From 1886 he spent long stretches in Pont-Aven, Brittany, developing Synthetism — bold outlines and flat, non-naturalistic color inspired partly by his own rejection of Impressionism’s focus on optical effect.

In 1888 he lived and worked with Vincent van Gogh in Arles for two months, a collaboration that ended the night van Gogh injured his own ear following an argument between them. Gauguin left France for Tahiti in 1891, seeking subjects and a way of life he considered more "primitive," and spent most of his remaining years in French Polynesia, where he died in the Marquesas Islands in 1903.

Gauguin paintings on display, museum by museum

Rooms and display status checked against each museum’s own collection database.

Listen to the commentary in the gallery

This list tells you where to look. In front of the actual painting, CulturAll adds the audio commentary: photograph the work or its label, listen, then ask your questions.