The exhibition Gauguin: Metamorphoses, and this website, highlight these less well-known aspects of Gauguin’s oeuvre, especially the rare and extraordinary prints he created in several discrete bursts of activity from 1889 until his death, in 1903. These remarkable works reflect his experiments with a range of techniques, from bold, rough-hewn woodcuts to jewel-like watercolor monotypes to evocative transfer drawings. Gauguin’s prints are often tied to his earlier paintings and sculptures, for his creative process involved repeating and recombining key motifs from one image to another, allowing them to evolve and metamorphose over time and across mediums. Of all the mediums to which he applied himself, it was printmaking–which always entails transferring and multiplying images–that served as the greatest catalyst in this process of transformation.
Paul Gauguin. Portrait of the Artist with the Idol. c. 1893. Oil on canvas, 17 1⁄4 x 12 7⁄8" (43.8 x 32.7 cm). McNay Art Museum, San Antonio. Bequest of Marion Koogler McNay. © McNay Art Museum / Art Resource, N.Y.