Paul Gauguin

1848 – 1903

Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin was a French Post-Impressionist painter who spent the last decade of his life in French Polynesia, producing the South Pacific–set canvases for which he is now best remembered. Recent scholarship has documented that during his time in Tahiti and the Marquesas Islands he took at least three Indigenous wives or partners between the ages of 13 and 14 and likely transmitted syphilis to many of them, all while producing the orientalist and sexualized paintings of Polynesian girls that have entered the canon of modern Western art. Several major museums have begun reframing or partially restricting their displays of his work in light of these findings.

Last checked: May 10, 2026, 1:06 PM