A confusing title?

Dos mujeres tahitianas

Paul Gauguin 1899

“Gauguin and the Voyage to the Exotic”. That was the title of the temporary exhibition organized by the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum from 9 October 2012 to 13 January 2013. A provocative title for a nice journey to the exotic in Modernism.

But was it appropriate? Was it the most convenient and suitable?    

Why am I wondering this?

Although it’s extremely evocative and provocative, it can confuse you from the beginning to the exhibition’s end.

Why?  

Because, of the 111 artworks that could be contemplated throughout the exhibition’s suggested itinerary, only 33 of them were by Gauguin.

These 111 works were lent by museums, galleries and collections in 13 different countries: Portugal, Sweden, France, the UK, the Netherlands Switzerland, Austria, German, Hungary, Denmark, Russia, Israel and the US, besides Spain.

Aside from the surprise of finding only those 33 Gauguin paintings, the exhibition was an ambitious show, not so much for the number of pieces, but for the outstanding masterpieces done by Gauguin and his followers.

 

Mata Mua (Érase una vez)

Paul Gauguin 1912

During the visit around the rooms, I thought: but this isn’t a Gauguin exhibition! It’s true. The exhibition allowed visitors to notice the importance that the artists' travels had for the history of art. Gauguin shared the billing with a wide range of painters from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who have shown us, frame by frame, how travel to exotic worlds contributed to the emergence of what we now call modernity. And this modern notion was what inspired Gauguin to break from romantic stereotypes and propose a new exotic canon as a model for many artists that followed.

Parau Api (Qué hay de nuevo)
Paul Gauguin 1912
An important selection of works by Kandinsky, alongside paintings by August Macke, Paul Klee and Sonia and Robert Delaunay was gathered together in the space dedicated to the journeys undertaken by early 20th-century in search of a new language based on light and colour. I understood perfectly Gauguin's stamp on artists like Kirchner, Nolde and Kandinsky.

Works by Matisse, Kirchner, André Derain, Henri Manguin and Mikhail Larionov reflected the major influence that the French artist had on the artistic movements of the first decade of the 20th century, such as French fauvism and German expressionism.

I think the exhibition’s title shows the intention of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum to demonstrate that Gauguin was the first painter to tackle the exotic in a modern way.

If you missed it, don’t worry! Don’t hesitate to take a virtual visit to the exotic and the different through Martinique, Tahiti, the Polynesian islands, Tunisia and Algeria… , only for you. Click on the link below and off you go! 

 Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum                               

                                                              

 Flamencodancer   

 Emil Nolde 1914