An essay I wrote for my Art and Medicine class

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Joana Llamosas
December 11, 2019
Art and Medicine
Paul Gauguin and Primitivism
Paul Gauguin suffered from Narcissistic Personality Disorder, this contributed to many
of his life decisions and it also influenced his artistic pursuits. He had a consistent need to be
represented in an “other” fashion to represent his perception of self and cultural background.
French colonialism gave him the power to move to various French colonies while being ensured
stability, therefore he never fully descended into a primitive lifestyle. However, primitivism is
tied to racism, patriarchal notions, and privilege; all of which were progressively reflected in his
artwork throughout his artistic journey. Gauguin’s narcissism contributed to his separation of his
European and Peruvian identities. He believed himself to be superior because of his ability to
become savage or sensitive. The progression of his work also represents a descent into
chauvinism noting a contrast from European women to Tahitian. Therefore, Paul Gauguin’s
narcissism affected his work beginning with a superiority complex in his self portraits, to finally
reflecting primitivism through non-European women in a hyper-sexualized form.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder, as defined in Narcissistic Personality Disorder in
Clinical Health Psychology Practice: Case Studies of Comorbid Psychological Distress and Life
Limiting Illness, “A psychological disorder characterized by a persistent pattern of grandiosity,
fantasies, or unlimited power or importance, and the need for admiration or special
treatment”(156), is a disorder Paul Gauguin suffered. His chauvinist mentality and the patriarchal
ideals reflected in his works form his Tahiti period are a reflection of his superior mentality over

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women. Gauguin had an idealized view of primitivism, rooted in the sexualization of minority
women and the separation of native people from Western culture. He desperately sought to be
recognized through “otherness” because of his fantasy of being separate from Western lifestyles.
Gauguin represented himself as a divine Christ-like figure numerous times, his self image
represented grandeur and fantasy. As previously stated in the definition for Narcissistic
Personality Disorder, the goal of admiration is greatly important to those suffering from this.
Through representing himself as a Christ-like figure, Gauguin becomes the object of admiration
from an entire religious community. He believes his suffering and life is comparable to Christ’s.
Portrait of the Artist with Yellow Christ (c.1889) is an example of Gauguin’s self
glorification, this is a self-portrait with Christ in the background, while the foreground is a
realistic self portrait. The background is a primitive portrayal of the crucifixion of Christ,
however, the Christ figure is painted in a yellow color palette. To the right of the background, the
artist also painted one of his ceramic works. He compares himself to Christ through his suffering
for his work, at this point in time Gauguin had sacrificed his family in search of a more primitive
identity. Through his comparison of self to Christ, Gauguin fulfills his narcissism in his work by
creating a larger narrative in which he had made the ultimate sacrifice. Gauguin views himself as
a martyr for his art. Also, by painting himself onto the foreground, he creates a hierarchy of scale
by making his portrait larger than Christs. This signifies that he not only believes he is
comparable to Christ but he is also superior.
Gauguin uses the prompt of ultimate suffering various times in his works, including
Christ in the Garden of Olives (c.1889) and Self Portrait Dedicated to Vincent Van Gogh
(c.1888). Christ in the Garden of Olives is a self-portrait of Gauguin represented as Christ, he is
shown to be suffering once again. In the Self-Portrait Dedicated to Vincent Van Gogh, Gauguin

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renders himself as Jean Valjean from the novel Les Miserables. Jean Valjean lives a life of
suffering in which he serves a nineteen year long prison sentence and afterwards continues to be
pursued by the authorities. In the painting, Gauguin is painted with a tired and miserable
expression in an impressionist style. He is making an analogy in comparing his own sufferings to
that of Jean Valjean. These paintings support the claim of his having Narcissistic Personality
Disorder because of his intense need for admiration due to his sufferings and his self
representations of grandiosity.
The cultural background of Gauguin led to his interest in primitivism, born in France,
Gauguin soon moved to Lima, Peru and spent a portion of his childhood there. After returning to
Paris, further into his adulthood he began referencing a primitive portion of his identity, this
being his Peruvian identity. In Barbara Braun’s writing, Paul Gauguin’s Indian Identity: How
Ancient Peruvian Pottery Inspired His Art, she quotes Gauguin, “You must remember that two
natures dwell within me: the Indian and the sensitive man… the sensitive man has disappeared
and Indian now goes straight ahead”(36), Gauguin attempts to justify his primitive nature to his
Peruvian roots. However, this is his European perception of his Peruvian identity, having lived in
Europe the majority of his life by this point, he created separate identities. He experiences his
European identity as one of intellectualism and sensitivity. His perception of the Peruvian culture
as being savage is a reflection of his European mindset. Abigail Solomon Godeau describe in her
writing, Going Native: Paul Gauguin and the Invention of Primitivist Modernism, “In the myth
of Gauguin ‘the man’ we are presented with a narrative that mobilizes powerful psychological
fantasies about difference and otherness, both sexual and racial” (314), he creates a narrative of
mysticism behind his cultural background and other “primitive” cultures that is inaccurate.

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His exposure to Peruvian art, mostly Chimu, led to his experimentation with ceramics
and further exploration of this portion of his identity. However, his perception of self is rooted in
a privileged and racist Westernized ideal. Gauguin had a mythesized cognizance of Peruvian
culture, and he often embodied this identity in order to portray himself in a certain manner.
Braun also makes a point in referencing the majority of Gauguin’s sources for his work during
his Peruvian era, these being “French books on pre-Columbian art” (37) , therefore, the
information he was provided was from a Europeanized perspective.
The attempts made in representing his “savage” culture from being Peruvian and
attempting to adopt a primitive lifestyle are a direct reflection of his privilege as a white man
residing in Europe. Gauguin in a way views this portion of himself as being superior to the
average European, however, when it is represented in his paintings, he views the native women
as inferior. This most likely originates from his narcissistic tendencies.
Gauguin’s chauvinism resulted in his colonization of the female native body through his
artwork and in real life. Abigail Solomon Godeau states “What is at stake in the erotics of
primitivism is to impulse to domesticate, as well as possess” (326), Gauguin viewed the native
female body with less value than he did the European female body. During his time in Tahiti,
Gauguin represented women in a progressively sexualized, primitive form. He also became
involved with underaged Tahitian females aged as young as thirteen years old. This problematic
portion of his life can be attributed to his attribution of a diminished worth for non-European
women.
Gauguin’s works of women created during his time in Europe portray women with more
agency and respect in contrast to those from his Tahiti period. For example, the painting Breton
Girls Dancing, Pont-Aven (c.1888) is a portrayal of western girls fully clothed partaking in a

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normal dancing activity. Gauguin’s sexist portrayals aren’t represented in this painting, he offers
European women more respect and identity rather than being a sexaulized form. Primitivism in
Gauguin’s work takes shape through hyper-sexualization of Maori women because of his lack of
respect for them Upon his initial interactions with Tahitians, he rendered the women clothed and
with a smaller degree of hyper-sexualization. This is represented in Tahitian Women on the
Beach (c.1891) and We Shall Not Go To the market Today (c. 1892). In both of these
representations, the portrayal of women is done respectfully and similarly to his renditions of
European women. However, as his stay in Tahiti progressed, the women became represented in
the form of the male gaze. The male gaze is the depiction of women for the pleasure of a male
viewer. This is especially reflected in Day of the God (c.1894) and And the gold of their bodies,
(c. 1901). Both of these paintings, created during his time in Tahiti, show women directly
looking at the viewer in a powerless form. They are interacting with the viewer and do not have
agency over their own bodies. From 1894 until Gauguin’s departure from Tahiti in 1901, his
paintings of women are done in a similar manner: nude, powerless, and directly interacting with
the viewer. These hyper sexualized representations of women are a reflection of the Primitive
artistic movement.
Upon Gauguin’s return to Paris, he contracted syphilis, ten years prior to this he became
ill with malaria and dysentery. His various illnesses plagued him with constant pain. However,
his work remained a reminder of his narcissistic personality and chauvinist ideals. Gauguin’s
descent into racism during his Tahiti era is a reflection of his perception of non-European
peoples, especially women.

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Bibliography
Braun, Barbara. 1986. “Paul Gauguin’s Indian Identity: How Ancient Peruvian Pottery
Inspired His Art.” Art History 9 (1): 36–54.
Hajj, Ralph. 2002. “Savage Strategies: Parisian Avant-Garde and ‘Savage’ Brittany in the
Definition of Paul Gauguin.” Third Text 16 (2): 167–81.
Jörngården, Anna. 2014. “Two Barbarians in Paris: Gauguin and Strindberg’s Gendered
Dialogue on Time and Place.” French Studies 68 (4): 493–509.
Kacel, Elizabeth L., Nicole Ennis, and Deidre B. Pereira. “Narcissistic Personality
Disorder in Clinical Health Psychology Practice: Case Studies of Comorbid Psychological
Distress and Life-Limiting Illness.” Behavioral Medicine 43, no. 3 (March 2017): 156–64..
Solomon-Godeau, Abigail. . “Going Native: Paul Gauguin and the Invention of
Primitivist Modernism.” no. 17 313-329

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Christ in the Garden of Olives (c.1889)
Portrait of the Artist with Yellow Christ (c.1889)

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Self Portrait Dedicated to Vincent Van Gogh (c.1888)
Day of the God (c.1894)

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And the gold of their bodies, (c. 1901)