Review of Gaugin Show at Tate Modern

Ok so here goes! This is the latest show i went to along with quite a few others this month but i will write about this one first as it is the freshest in my mind. I saw it yesterday and may i just type now, WOW alot of people want to this guy!

On first entrance there are self portraits which are quite interesting but slightly mundane you could say. The use of colour quite dark and the depictions of himself at various stages are a nice introduction to the show, but not neccessarily the best. I would have rathered seeing a mixture of portraits of himself and others.

Then you go into a mass collection of sculptures Gaugin used within his paintings along with some of the loveliest colours he ever used. Definetley the 2nd room was lurring you into what then became about 5-6 more rooms with various drawings, sculpture and paintings. Amongst my favourite were his woodcuts and general doodles supporting the final work.

Up close and personal the tahitian girls were very beautiful but i expected more sordidness almost and then of course there were some really fantastic landscapes that i urge people to see. So yeah for £13.50 you sure do get a show, however i did feel at times the exhibition to be a bit too packed with not enough space surrounding the works and also alot of text around the place.


As usual Tate definetley makes it work for them and the general exhibition goer but from a painters point of view, i could easily see it a couple times as it was just SO overwhelming in terms of what he'd produced and pictorally reacted to almost.

Lucky for me my boyriend is a volunteer there and so we got in for free! Which is a great plus in this expensive day and age and when cameron is taking away from from the arts every which way! Last but not least the little booklet for the show contains NO PICTURES! which i find very cheap and thus forces us to either buy postcards (75p each!) or else the catalogue at £19.99 (paperback) Special Exhibition Price or £34.99 (hardback).

For more details on the show go to the Tate Website!
Happy Viewing!
Lauren