Paul Gauguin
The studio Paul Gauguin took on returning from his first Tahitian voyage - yellow walls, Polynesian carvings, a weekly open house - before leaving France for good in 1895.
6 rue Vercingétorix
Rebuilt on the site
Outside only
Later buildings on the redeveloped street
The studio Paul Gauguin took on returning from his first Tahitian voyage in 1893, painted chrome yellow and hung with Polynesian objects — a piece of theatre staged to sell a version of himself to Paris.
- 6 rue Vercingétorix, 75014 Paris
- Gauguin's studio after his first return from Tahiti, 1893–1895
The place, briefly
Paul Gauguin came back from Tahiti in 1893 with a body of work Paris did not know what to do with, and set about explaining it. The studio he took on the rue Vercingétorix was part of the explanation.
He painted the walls a strong yellow, hung the rooms with Polynesian carvings, weapons and his own canvases, dressed the part, and held a weekly open house. His companion in this period was a young woman known as Annah la Javanaise, who appears in the paintings and who eventually left, taking most of the contents of the studio with her.
The performance did not entirely work. The 1893 exhibition at Durand-Ruel sold poorly and the critics were divided, and by 1895 Gauguin had given up on Europe. He sailed for Tahiti again that year and never returned — he died in the Marquesas in 1903.
The quarter was rebuilt during the Montparnasse station development and the studio is gone. The record marks the street.
Key facts
- 1893 to 1895, between the two Tahitian voyages
- Yellow walls, Polynesian carvings, weekly open house
- His companion of these years; she left with the studio's contents
- Poor sales; he sailed for Tahiti again in 1895 and never came back
- Rebuilt — nothing survives; street-level record
Timeline
Gauguin returns from Tahiti and takes the rue Vercingétorix studio.
He leaves France for Tahiti for the second and final time.
He dies in the Marquesas.
On the map
Questions before you go
Can you visit Gauguin's rue Vercingétorix studio?
No. The area was rebuilt during the Montparnasse station development and nothing of the studio survives.
What was the yellow studio for?
Self-presentation. Back from Tahiti with unsellable pictures, Gauguin staged the studio — yellow walls, Polynesian objects, weekly receptions — to sell Paris a version of the artist who had made them.
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