Self-Portrait Dedicated to Carrière

The Self-Portrait Dedicated to Carrière, painted by Paul Gauguin around 1888-1889, is an essential example of the artist's developing Post-Impressionist style during the crucial period of 1876 to 1900. Executed in oil on canvas, this seminal work reflects Gauguin’s increasing reliance on subjective emotion and symbolic color rather than strictly realistic depiction. The piece documents a significant transitional moment, created shortly before Gauguin’s radical move away from European centers.

The self-portrait presents a stark, concentrated study of the French artist’s face. Unlike traditional renderings, the composition avoids external indicators of status or setting, focusing instead on internal psychological intensity. The oil technique involves thick application, or impasto, used in the background contrasting with the flatter, more deliberate planes used to construct the facial features. Gauguin, a central figure in the burgeoning Symbolist movement, often used his own image to explore complex themes of identity and alienation, themes that defined the Parisian avant-garde of the time. The very act of dedicating the work speaks to the complex network of intellectual and aesthetic exchange that characterized the late 19th century.

Gauguin’s deliberate simplification of form and color in this canvas signals a firm departure from Impressionism toward Synthetism. This work belongs firmly within the lineage of the European avant-garde, whose radical techniques irrevocably shaped Modernism. Today, this iconic piece is held in the prestigious collection of the National Gallery of Art. Due to its historical significance and widespread appeal, high-quality prints of this seminal work are widely available, often distributed through public domain archives.