CANBERRA.- The National Gallery today announced the acquisition of The blue roof or Farm at Le Pouldu 1890 by Paul Gauguin (1848-1903), the first painting by the artist to enter an Australian public collection.

The blue roof or Farm at Le Pouldu is currently on display in the major exhibition Gauguin’s World: Tōna Iho, Tōna Ao. The exhibition traces Gauguin’s artistic journey and global travel – from his Impressionist beginnings in 1873 to his final destination in French Polynesia. The newly acquired painting is a key example from his Brittany period. Following the exhibition, the work will join the permanent collection displays of the National Gallery to be appreciated by audiences for generations to come.

The blue roof or Farm at Le Pouldu captures an approach to colour and freedom of expression that characterises Gauguin’s subsequent work, hinting to the art yet to come. The picturesque scene of a country farmyard has simplified structure and form, the composition divided into planes, with colour used for definition. Gauguin’s bold use of orange, pinks and blues were highly modern for a work produced in the late 1800s, foreshadowing the developments of 20th century art.

The painting is among a small number of works painted by Gauguin at Le Pouldu on the Breton coast. At the centre of the composition, a woman is shown drawing water from a well, framed and almost subsumed by the rustic farm buildings. Gauguin varied his brushstrokes to capture a sense of the rough surfaces of the stone buildings, thatched roofs and the surrounding vegetation. The composition centres on the figure of the woman, dressed in dark blue with a white cap, and the well. A distinctive blue roof is characteristic of the rural architecture in Le Pouldu, and two dogs in the foreground provide further interest.

From July 1886 until his departure for Tahiti in April 1891, Gauguin travelled regularly between Paris, towns in Brittany and to the South of France, searching for a way to consolidate his style, as well places to live cheaply. He absorbed the region’s peasant traditions, music and especially woodcarving, and described scrutinising ‘the horizons, seeking that harmony of human life with animal and vegetable life through compositions in which I allowed the great voice of the earth to play an important part.’[i] The images of peasant life, the landscape and harvest scenes Gauguin painted in 1889 and during 1890 are some of the most radically simplified of his career.

The National Gallery holds seven prints by Gauguin in the collection, with the first gifted to the National Gallery by renowned Australian artist Sir Russell Drysdale in 1974. The acquisition of The blue roof or Farm at Le Pouldu has been brought to fruition with the extraordinary support of the National Gallery of Australia Foundation. It will be on show in the permanent collection galleries in late 2024.

National Gallery Director Dr Nick Mitzevich said: ‘The blue roof or Farm at Le Pouldu by the Post Impressionist master Paul Gauguin is an important acquisition for the national collection. It captures a key point in art history – the moment when the artist emerged as an intensely original master, taking Impressionist colour schemes and transcending them to be bolder and more daring.’

‘As the National Gallery, we aim to present Australian audiences with access to world-class art that inspires and educates. This work by Gauguin adds to the anchor works in the national collection from the past 100 years including by artists such as Claude Monet and Mary Cassatt through to Jackson Pollock and Louise Bourgeois.’

‘We are extremely grateful for the generosity of the National Gallery Foundation who made this acquisition possible,’ continued Mitzevich.

Since his death in 1903, Gauguin has left two enduring and conflicting legacies – his art and himself. Like other contemporary and historic artists, Gauguin’s life and art have increasingly and appropriately been debated here and around the world. In today’s context, Gauguin’s interactions in Polynesia in the later part of the 19th Century would not be accepted and are recognised as such.

Gauguin’s World: Tōna Iho, Tōna Ao is open at the National Gallery of Australia in Kamberri/Canberra until 7 October 2024. The exhibition has been organised by the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and Art Exhibitions Australia.