Editing Paul Gauguin (section)

== Technique and style ==
[[File:Paul Gauguin, 1892, Ta matete (Le Marché), oil on canvas, 73.2 x 91.5 cm, Kunstmuseum Basel.jpg|upright=1.10|left|thumb|''Ta Matete'', 1892, [[Kunstmuseum Basel]]]]

Gauguin's initial artistic guidance was from Pissarro, but the relationship left more of a mark personally than stylistically. Gauguin's masters were [[Giotto]], [[Raphael]], [[Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres|Ingres]], [[Eugène Delacroix]], [[Édouard Manet|Manet]], Degas, and Cézanne.{{sfn|Walther|2000|p=7}}{{sfn|Cachin|1992|p=16}}{{sfn|Cachin|1992|p=123}}{{sfn|Bowness|1971|p=5}}{{sfn|Bowness|1971|p=15}} His own beliefs, and in some cases the psychology behind his work, were also influenced by philosopher [[Arthur Schopenhauer]] and poet [[Stéphane Mallarmé]].{{sfn|Bowness|1971|p=10}}{{sfn|Bowness|1971|p=15}}

Gauguin, like some of his contemporaries such as Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec, employed a technique for painting on canvas known as ''peinture à l'essence''. For this, the oil ([[Binder (material)|binder]]) is drained from the paint and the remaining sludge of pigment is mixed with turpentine. He may have used a similar technique in preparing his monotypes, using paper instead of metal, as it would absorb oil giving the final images a matte appearance he desired.<ref>Figura, Childs, Foster & Mosier (2014), 67.</ref> He also proofed some of his existing drawings with the aid of glass, copying an underneath image onto the glass surface with watercolour or gouache for printing. Gauguin's [[woodcut]]s were no less innovative, even to the avant-garde artists responsible for the woodcut revival happening at that time. Instead of incising his blocks with the intent of making a detailed illustration, Gauguin initially chiseled his blocks in a manner similar to wood sculpture, followed by finer tools to create detail and tonality within his bold contours. Many of his tools and techniques were considered experimental. This methodology and use of space ran parallel to his painting of flat, decorative reliefs.<ref>Figura, Childs, Foster & Mosier (2014), pp. 23–26.</ref>

[[File:Paul Gauguin 049.jpg|upright=1.10|thumb|''Parahi te maras'', 1892, Meyer de Schauensee collection]]

Starting in Martinique, Gauguin began using [[Analogous colors|analogous colours]] in close proximity to achieve a muted effect.{{sfn|Cachin|1992|p=33}} Shortly after this, he also made his breakthroughs in non-representational colour, creating canvases that had an independent existence and vitality all their own.{{sfn|Cachin|1992|p=52}} This gap between surface reality and himself displeased Pissarro and quickly led to the end of their relationship.{{sfn|Cachin|1992|p=45}} His human figures at this time are also a reminder of his love affair with Japanese prints, particularly gravitating to the naivety of their figures and compositional austerity as an influence on his primitive manifesto.{{sfn|Cachin|1992|p=33}} For that very reason, Gauguin was also inspired by [[folk art]]. He sought out a bare emotional purity of his subjects conveyed in a straightforward way, emphasizing major forms and upright lines to clearly define shape and contour.{{sfn|Walther|2000|pp=13, 17}} 

Gauguin also used elaborate formal decoration and colouring in patterns of abstraction, attempting to harmonize man and nature.{{sfn|Walther|2000|p=50}} His depictions of the natives in their natural environment are frequently evident of serenity and a self-contained sustainability.{{sfn|Walther|2000|p=75}} This complemented one of Gauguin's favorite themes, which was the intrusion of the [[supernatural]] into day-to-day life, in one instance going so far as to recall [[Art of ancient Egypt|ancient Egyptian]] tomb reliefs with ''Her Name is Vairaumati'' and ''Ta Matete''.{{sfn|Walther|2000|p=53}}

In an interview with [[L'Écho de Paris]] published on 15 March 1895, Gauguin explains that his developing tactical approach is reaching for [[synesthesia]].{{sfn|Walther|2000|p=13}} He states:
:Every feature in my paintings is carefully considered and calculated in advance. Just as in a musical composition, if you like. My simple object, which I take from daily life or from nature, is merely a pretext, which helps me by the means of a definite arrangement of lines and colours to create symphonies and harmonies. They have no counterparts at all in reality, in the vulgar sense of that word; they do not give direct expression to any idea, their only purpose is to stimulate the imagination—just as music does without the aid of ideas or pictures—simply by that mysterious affinity which exists between certain arrangements of colours and lines and our minds.{{sfn|Cachin|1992|pp=170–171}}

In an 1888 letter to Schuffenecker, Gauguin explains the enormous step he had taken away from Impressionism and that he was now intent on capturing the soul of nature, the ancient truths and character of its scenery and inhabitants. Gauguin wrote:
:Don't copy nature too literally. Art is an abstraction. Derive it from nature as you dream in nature's presence, and think more about the act of creation than the outcome.{{sfn|Cachin|1992|p=38}}