Tahitian painting is the central layer of Paul Gauguin’s artistic heritage. And although he claimed: “The pictures painted here frighten me, the public will never accept them,” the painter never tired of admiring the new world around him, full of colors, naturalness and naivety.
The painting “Ta matete” or “Market” also known under the expanded title “Today we will not go to the market,” was painted by the artist in 1892. She demonstrates extremely eloquently that Gauguin was relentlessly searching for new means of expressiveness: a new unusual exotic nature demanded new stylistic embodiments. Screwed new ideas a painter not only from the surrounding nature – with him to the island of Gauguin brought a collection of photographs. Pictures of the Parthenon, the Egyptian tomb and other religious sites more than once helped the master in his work.
Here in this picture we see five girls in bright clothes, whose profile is nothing more than a direct quote of traditional Egyptian frescoes – frozen postures, static figures, peculiarities of the arrangement of figures in space.
In the background of the picture, the spectator can notice the fishermen, who are only dressed in loincloths and exactly copy Egyptian men – bent figures frozen in identical poses, create a monotonous rhythm reminiscent of a pleiad of loaded slaves depicted on the walls of tombs and temples of the present Luxor.
Gauguin for himself united the primitive world of ancient Egypt, leaving evidence on the frescoes of damp walls and the strange world of Tahiti, seeking to comprehend both.
In the rest of the technique, Gaugin gravitated toward colorful and decorative – bright colors, pure colors, freed from halftones, and a clear clear line. The picture is devoid of volume and depth – the whole composition is almost flat, and this is another reason that makes us remember the Egyptian fresco.
A little time will pass and Gauguin’s style will again be transformed, showing the artistic world a new incomparable aesthetics, for which the painter will be scolded by his contemporaries, and extol the descendants. “Market” along with other similar paintings, will become a recognized masterpiece that unites the features of Egyptian art and the imagination of the great Gauguin.
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