“Blue Roofs (Rouen)”
“Blue Roofs (Rouen)” is an oil on canvas painting by the French Post-Impressionist artist, Paul Gauguin, from 1884. Rouen is a city in northern France and in 1884, Gauguin moved his family there.
This was painted during a tumultuous time in Gauguin’s life. He was just fired from his job in the Paris stock market following a large market crash and his marriage was just about to fall apart. He was having difficulty supporting his family. He sought odd jobs while living in Rouen but was unsuccessful. By the end of the year, Gauguin’s family left Rouen for Denmark to get the financial support of his wife’s family.
This is an impressionist painting, made before Gauguin developed his own unique style. In the early years of his art career, Gauguin studied under Camille Pissarro who introduced him to many impressionist artists. Gauguin exhibited his works during the Impressionist exhibitions of 1876, 1880, 1880, 1882, and 1886. Soon after, he began to develop his signature style of bold colors and flattened perspectives.
“Blue Roofs (Rouen)” is in the collections of the Oskar-Reinhart Foundation Museum in Winterthur, Switzerland.
For more on Paul Gauguin, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
