Details

Object type

painting

Title

Ostre Anlaeg Park, Copenhagen

Artist/Maker

Paul Gauguin artist

Culture/School

French

Place Associated

Denmark, Copenhagen, Oestervold Park (place depicted)

Date

1885

Materials

oil on canvas

Dimensions

framed: 823 mm x 958 mm x 115 mm; unframed: 591 x 728 mm

Description

Green and brown trees on the far side of a blue river. A cream-coloured path with several figures leads towards more trees. At the right-hand side, a tree frames the scene. The sky is blue, and features two dark blue parallel lines towards the right.

Before dedicating himself fully to life as an artist, Gauguin worked in the Paris stock exchange, painting in his spare time. After losing his job in the stock market crash of 1882 he struggled to make ends meet, and his Danish wife, Mette, and their children moved back to her home country. In the winter of 1884, Gauguin joined his family in Copenhagen. This is one of two views of the nearby Oestre Anlaeg park which he painted in late April or May 1885, near the end of his eight-month stay.

Although Gauguin is usually viewed as a Post-Impressionist, this early landscape is Impressionist both in its choice of subject and in its technique, with its broad, open brushwork and the use of blue in the shadows. From 1879, Gauguin had participated in the Impressionist group exhibitions, and it is possible that this work, exhibited as ‘Parc, Danemarck’, was included in the 8th and final Impressionist show held in Paris in 1886. Gauguin’s own, distinctive style did not develop until his first visit to Pont-Aven in 1886.

Credit Line/Donor

Presented by the Trustees of the Hamilton Bequest, 1944

ID Number

2465

Location

In storage