Paul Gauguin
The home of Gustave Arosa, Paul Gauguin's guardian, whose collection of Delacroix, Courbet, Corot and Pissarro gave him his first close exposure to modern painting, and whose connections placed him at the Bourse.
5 rue Henri-Monnier
Still standing
Outside only
Someone else
The house of Gustave Arosa — businessman, photographer and collector — who became Paul Gauguin's guardian, found him his job at the Bourse, and owned the Delacroix, Courbet and Pissarro canvases that started him painting.
- 5 rue Henri-Monnier, 75009 Paris
- Home of Gustave Arosa, Gauguin's guardian and the source of his first contact with modern painting
The place, briefly
Gustave Arosa was a successful businessman and a serious collector, and after the death of Gauguin's mother he became the young man's guardian. Two things followed from that, and between them they account for most of Paul Gauguin's life.
The first was practical: Arosa's connections got Gauguin his position as a stockbroker's agent at the Bourse in 1871, the job that made him prosperous for a decade and gave him the money to buy pictures.
The second was the pictures themselves. Arosa's collection held Delacroix, Courbet, Corot and Pissarro, and a young man in that house saw modern French painting at close range, in a domestic room, years before he had any thought of making it himself. He began painting as an amateur, started collecting Impressionists on his broker's salary, and was exhibiting with them by 1879.
The building is private and carries nothing to indicate any of this.
Key facts
- Gustave Arosa, Gauguin's guardian
- Businessman, photographer and collector
- Arosa's connections placed Gauguin at the Bourse in 1871
- Delacroix, Courbet, Corot and Pissarro
- Private — exterior only
Timeline
Gauguin enters the Bourse through Arosa's connections.
He exhibits with the Impressionists for the first time.
On the map
Questions before you go
Who was Gustave Arosa?
Gauguin's guardian after his mother's death — a businessman and collector whose pictures gave Gauguin his first sustained exposure to modern painting, and whose connections got him his job at the Bourse.
People who knew this place
Within walking distance
56 rue Notre-Dame-de-Lorette
The house where Paul Gauguin was born on 7 June 1848, months before the family fled France for Peru — a departure that killed his father and shaped everything that came after.
Visit the place15 rue La Bruyère
A Paul Gauguin address in the 9th arrondissement during the years when he was still a stockbroker, painting on Sundays and quietly assembling one of the better private Impressionist collections in Paris.
Visit the placePère Tanguy's shop, 14 rue Clauzel
The tiny paint shop of Julien 'Père' Tanguy, who supplied the Impressionists on credit, hung their canvases in his window when no dealer would, and sat three times for Van Gogh's most affectionate portrait.
Visit the place28 place Saint-Georges
The first home Paul Gauguin shared with his Danish wife Mette Gad after their marriage in 1873, on a handsome small square — the address of a successful stockbroker rather than a painter.
Visit the placeThe Friday Letter
Paris, one address at a time.
The cafés, studios, and walk-up flats where the work was made — one story from the map in every letter.