A proximité de l'Anse Turin où Gauguin avait loué une case lors de son séjour en Martinique, une petit musée retrace l'histoire de son passage et présente une vingtaine de reproductions de toiles de sa période antillaise. Le musée accueille aussi une exposition de costumes créoles.
Gauguin's stay in Martinique
Paul Gauguin (1848-1903), after he starts painting as an amateur, gets involved in his field in the middle of the 1880's. At that time, he was obliged to give up the easy life that could provide a job as a stockbroker, and his marriage is threatened. He longs to find, in wild lands, the source of his inspiration.
He decides to leave for Panama in 1887. Unfortunately, Gauguin is disappointed by the country, which is undergoing profound changes since they started to dig the canal.
He makes do with Martinique he caught a glimpse of while stopping over on his way to Panama. He reaches Saint-Pierre in June 1887 and finds a "Negroes hut" next to Turin's bay (Vllage of the Carbet).
Under the spell of "easy live", he draws and paints those women who walk from Saint-Pierre to Carbet, carrying food or water on their head, with so great ease, the countryside's, a sort of rural stillness so far from modern life.
He is caught by sickness. Wretched, overwhelmed by malaria, dysentery, he has to leave this Martinican paradise.
Back to France, he cannot stay in Paris and leaves to Pont-Aven, where he will paint, influenced by the Martinican experience, the paintings which will constitute the post-impressionism manifest such as "The struggle between Jacob and the Angel".
The year 1887-1889 do have to be considerated as nodal point. Actually, all the profound changes in the artist's work occur during this period. When analising thoses changes, Martinique was often neglected. The celebration of Gauguin's death, 100 years ago, invites us to better appreciate the influence of Martican memories in the maturity of Gauguin's art.
* Voir les autres photos de Martinique ici.
* Voir St. Pierre *** Centre de Découvertes de Science de la Terre *** Prêcheur *** Musée Paul Gauguin.
Par Acilina
