Who did what, why & what for?

'Vision of the Sermon' by Paul Gauguin

'Breton Women in the Meadow' by Emile Bernard

Don't listen to Mother; red & green should always be seen ;-) Here's another in a short series of posts inspired by the red & greeness of my blog which I hope to overhaul as soon as I've finished drawing up my list of excuses not to do things.

Allow me to show you another pair of favourite paintings which happen to be linked by an argument about development. Gauguin's masterpiece has stimulated my thoughts ever since I first came across it as a teenager, back in the mists of time, annals of history, etc, etc. It's not only the move towards an abstract form ( if someone I know is struggling with abstract art, I always refer them to these two paintings as a starter) that fascinates me. It's such an arresting puzzle; what is this painting about? I won't pontificate about my thoughts because I believe it's what a painting says to YOU, dear reader, that's important. Don't let other people's opinions get in the way of your own, she says offering an opinion!! I like a bit of hypocrisy on the side ;-)

On to the argument of which, of course, Gauguin had many. It's to do with those age old combatants, inspiration and plagiarism. I suppose that this one has a slightly more positive slant, in that it could be argued that someone 'borrowed' an idea and truly ran with it? But as I said before, I offer no personal opinion myself. To read more about this particular argument, why not take a squint at this article from 2005.

PS. Whilst you're here, let us not forget the influenence of Japanese prints ( please see my earlier post below) upon such artists as Gauguin, Bernard & Van Gogh...