Paul Gauguin was a French Post-Impressionist artist born on June 7, 1848 in Paris, France. He is known for his experimental use of color and Synthetist style that were distinct from Impressionism. His art has been categorized as Post-Impressionist, Synthetist, and Symbolist, and it influenced many avant-garde developments in the early 20th century.

Toward the end of his life, he spent ten years in French Polynesia. The paintings from this time depict people or landscapes from that region1. His work was influential on the French avant-garde and many modern artists, such as Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse.

Gauguin’s art became popular after his death, partially from the efforts of dealer Ambroise Vollard, who organized exhibitions of his work late in his career and assisted in organizing two important posthumous exhibitions in Paris.

Gauguin was an important figure in the Symbolist movement as a painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramist, and writer. His expression of the inherent meaning of the subjects in his paintings, under the influence of the cloisonnist style, paved the way for Primitivism and the return to the pastoral. He was also an influential practitioner of wood engraving and woodcuts as art forms.