Paul Gauguin – Why are you angry? Special exhibition of the Alte Nationalgalerie – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin with the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek | 26.03.-10.07.2022

Paul Gauguin is one of the most influential pioneers of modern art, whose most famous paintings were created on the South Sea island of Tahiti between 1891 and 1901. “Paul Gauguin – Why are you angry?” in the Alte Nationalgalerie looks at Gauguin’s works, which were also influenced by western, colonial ideas of exoticism and eroticism, against the background of current discourses and confronts his works with the positions of contemporary artists.

Image above: Paul Gauguin (1848-1903), Arearea no Varua Ino. The Amusement of the Evil Spirit, 1894 © Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek

Paul Gauguin (Paris 1848 – 1903 Atuona/Hiva Oa) left the art metropolis of Paris, his wife and five children in 1891 to embark on a spiritual and artistic quest to French Polynesia. Here he lived, with one interruption, until his death in 1903. Among other things, one of Gauguin’s major works in the collection of the National Gallery, the painting “Tahitian Fisherwomen” from 1891, was created during this phase. Against the backdrop of historical models and postcolonial debates, the exhibition puts the myth of the “wild artist” created by Gauguin himself up for discussion. For his part, Gauguin was already drawing on a colonial dream of an earthly paradise, which at the same time enabled him to embark on a completely new kind of art. “Paul Gauguin – Why are you angry” approaches Gauguin from different perspectives and also opens up current views through works by contemporary artists such as Angela Tiatia (NZ/AUS), Yuki Kihara (WS/JP) or Nashashibi/Skaer (UK) and the Tahitian activist and artist Henri Hiro (PF).

“Paul Gauguin – Why are you angry?” is an exhibition of the Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, in cooperation with and based on the concept of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen, made possible by the Friends of the Nationalgalerie. Curated by Anna Kærsgaard Gregersen, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, with Ralph Gleis, Alte Nationalgalerie.

A German-language and an English-language catalogue with numerous illustrations will be published to accompany the exhibition.

Due to Corona, the duration of the exhibition may change at short notice. We will inform you up to date about www.smb.museum.

WHEN?

Saturday, March 26th – Sunday, July 10th 2022

Opening hours: Tue – Sun 10 am – 6 pm

WHERE?

Alte Nationalgalerie
Bodestraße 1-3
10178 Berlin-Mitte