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T.F. Chen Cultural Center Post-Van Gogh Retrospective: Happy Art Lover
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Gogh: "Portrait of Pere Tanguy, Half-Length,"(1887), Rodin Museum, Paris Gauguin: "Ta Matete (The Market)," (1892), Kunstmuseum, Basel Cezanne: "Fruits,"(1879-80), The Hermitage, Leningrad |
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| Art Work 1 of 53 Next About the center About the artist |
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In T.F. Chen’s "Happy Art Lover," Vincent Van Gogh’s Pere Tanguy sits squarely towards us with Paul Cezenne’s "Fruits" (1879-80) in front of him. Paul Gauguin’s painting, "Ta Matete (The Market)" (1892), hang behind Tanguy. " Have always before you the Persians, the Cambodians, and a little of the Egyptians," Paul Gauguin used to say. Though his " Ta Matete" is of Tahitian subject and inspiration, it is clear that Gauguin was painting after the Egyptian tradition. the sequence of seated women in a rhythmic alternation of bodily contour and intervening space , the combination of frontal and profile views, the long robes accentuating the poses, the rigid gestures and the long hair and fingers, all of these recall the design of the intaglio relief decorating Egyptian temples. To such a graceful and mysterious group, Gauguin added the flat color area reminiscent of a Persian minature and the background of an Indonesian relief. The painting is framed and occupies the entire space behind Pere Tanguy, almost as if Gauguin’s tropical paradise lies just outside the window. Cezanne’s "Fruits" manifests a constructive order of a still life with a milk jug,a decanter, a bowl, some fruits and a loaf of bread heightened by bunched-up from of the blue-white cloth. The massive and rococo rendering off Cezanne’s "Fruits" in the foreground contrasts with Gauguin’s flat and symbolic presentation in the upper half. The red , orange, and bluish-white colors beneath respond to the vermilion, yellow, and pink colors above. The harmony is further enriched by the deep blue suit of Pere Tanguy, who sits majestically with a pensive face, partially covering the Egyptian-Tahitian ladies, forming a connection between Van Gogh and Gauguin. In T.F. Chen’s "Happy Art Lover," we see three beloved masters, Cezanne-Van Gogh-Gauguin again united as a trinity of post-Impressionists.
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