Van Gogh and Gauguin: The Studio of the South

The personal and professional history of Van Gogh and Gauguin constitutes one of the most dramatically revealing sagas in the history of modern art. Over the last few decades Gogh and Gauguin have received a prodigious amount of scholarly attention. Recent contributions to this literature have expanded our knowledge significantly. But while references to their problematic interaction abound, sustained analysis of their mutual influence has yet to be the subject of a major study. This book, published on the occasion of a landmark exhibition organized by the Art Institute of Chicago and the Van Gogh Museum, systematically explores the relationship in the context of the larger cultural and political background implied in their ideas for a 'Studio of the South'. It charts the connections between the two men through their stay together in Provence and beyond to Vincent's death in 1890. A final section considers the remainder of Gauguin's career, both in Tahiti and the Marquesas (where he died in 1903), as an attempt to realize the ideals of the 'Studio of the South' developed with Van Gogh and shaped by his posthumous reputation.