Post-Impressionism1889
The Yellow Christ
Paul Gauguin
Curator's Eye
"The central Christ is a direct reproduction of a 17th-century polychrome wooden crucifix located in the Trémalo chapel, which Gauguin simplified to fit his cloisonnism aesthetic."
A manifesto of Symbolism and Synthetism, this work transposes the Passion of Christ into the 19th-century Breton countryside. Gauguin uses a saturated, arbitrary yellow to express a rustic and timeless spirituality.
Analysis
Painted in 1889 in Pont-Aven, The Yellow Christ marks the peak of Gauguin's break with Impressionism. The artist no longer seeks to capture reflections of light but to paint an idea, a pure emotion. The choice of yellow for the figure of Christ is revolutionary: it is not a naturalistic color, but a symbolic one representing the harvest, ripe wheat, and by extension, the eternal cycle of life and death. Gauguin merges Catholic religious devotion with a form of pagan pantheism here, where divinity seems to emanate directly from the Breton earth.
The work features three Breton women in traditional coifs, kneeling at the foot of the cross. They do not appear to be witnessing a historical execution but an inner vision born of their daily faith. This concept of the "vision after the sermon," already explored by Gauguin the previous year, reaches a new serenity here. Christ's suffering is treated with an economy of means that reinforces its iconic aspect; his face is peaceful, almost detached, evoking a form of stoic resignation typical of the peasantry of the time.
The historical context is that of a Brittany perceived by Gauguin as a refuge of primitivism in the face of a corrupt industrial Europe. For the artist, the Breton Christ is a "wild" Christ, far from the gilding of urban cathedrals. This painting is a plea for art that draws its roots from folk art, Épinal prints, and the granite calvaries that dot the roads of Cornouaille. Gauguin seeks to rediscover the lost unity between man, nature, and the sacred through a form of radical simplification.
Technical analysis reveals the use of cloisonnism, a technique where flat areas of color are outlined by dark, marked contours. This approach removes traditional depth and cast shadows, transforming the canvas into a modern stained-glass window. Perspective is flattened, forcing the different planes of the landscape to coexist on a two-dimensional surface. It is this two-dimensionality that foreshadows abstract art and Fauvism in the 20th century, making Gauguin an indispensable precursor of modernity.
The most fascinating secret lies in the physical origin of the Christ. Contrary to popular belief, Gauguin did not invent this silhouette. He copied a wooden crucifix from the Trémalo chapel near Pont-Aven. However, Gauguin made a subtle but crucial change: in the original, Christ is more emaciated and tragic. Gauguin "yellowed" him to harmonize with the color of grain fields in autumn, thus linking the divine sacrifice to the agricultural cycle.
Another secret concerns the man climbing the fence in the background. Often ignored by observers, this character represents the artist himself, fleeing the scene or entering it. This figure introduces ambiguity: does Gauguin feel unworthy of the women's sacred vision, or is he presenting himself as the messenger bridging the modern world and archaic spirituality? This detail transforms the religious scene into a reflection on the artist's inner exile.
There is also a secret linked to the chromatic palette. Chemical analyses have shown that Gauguin used chrome pigments to achieve this strident yellow. At the time, these pigments were criticized for their potential instability, but Gauguin deliberately chose them for their visual violence. He wanted the painting to "scream" its color to counter the academic dullness of the Parisian Salons.
Finally, few people know that The Yellow Christ forms a spiritual diptych with his Self-Portrait with the Yellow Christ painted shortly after. In this self-portrait, the image of Christ appears reversed behind the artist, like a mirror of his own suffering. Gauguin explicitly identifies himself with Christ, seeing himself as a martyr of art, misunderstood and persecuted by the critics of his time. The yellow color then becomes the stigma of his own marginality.
Join Premium.
UnlockQuiz
Beyond its spiritual function, what major modification did Gauguin make to the actual sculptural source of the Trémalo Christ for this canvas?
Discover
