Focus on this artwork and explore the Critics and Gauguin.
Critics thought of Paul Gauguin as one of the major artists of the time, but they were unsure about the artist's intentions in this work. Thadée Natanson of La Revue Blanche expressed confusion over its meaning, describing it as "obscure".The critic André Fontainas of the Mercure de France acknowledged a grudging respect for the work but thought the allegory would be impenetrable without the inscription, and compared the painting to Inter artes et naturam (Between Art and Nature) of Pierre Puvis de Chavannes.
Although Gauguin appreciated the works of Puvis, he wanted to differentiate his works from “the great master of decorative painting”. He explained to Fontainas that the objectives of Puvis's works were predetermined and could be conveyed in words; he believed his works consist of a great "pictorial language of feelings". Gauguin believed that his paintings had abstract, inexplicable qualities that could not be expressed in literary terms.
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes Mercure de France La Revue Blanche Paul Gauguin André Fontainas Thadée Natanson