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Book chapter
Gauguin: Vitalist, Hypnotist
Gauguin’s Challenge: New Perspectives After Postmodernism, pp.179-203
Bloomsbury Publishing Inc
2018
Abstract
In 1897 Gauguin wrote a lengthy philosophical document entitled “The Catholic Church and Modern Times” in which he detailed his thoughts on science and the soul, the potential for a harmonious relationship between humanity and the natural world, and the current moment as ripe for social regeneration. In his treatise the artist rejected the doctrines of institutional Catholicism, discussed comparative religion, followed a broadly Buddhist-based theosophical program in which the soul reincarnates and argued for the compatibility of the organization of the physical body with spiritual life through neurology. This essay will examine Gauguin’s interest in neo-vitalism as a way to combat pervasive materialism through science itself and how his philosophy of life, imbued with a spiritual and communal message (of which vitalism was an important part) , was to be projected to his audience through art.
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Details
- Title
- Gauguin: Vitalist, Hypnotist
- Publication Details
- Gauguin’s Challenge: New Perspectives After Postmodernism, pp.179-203
- Resource Type
- Book chapter
- Contributors
- Norma Broude (Editor)
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury Publishing Inc
- Identifiers
- 99380171948606600
- Academic Unit
- Art and Design; College of Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities
- Language
- English