Paul GAUGUIN - Poignant letter before his death.

Paul Gauguin (1848-1903)

Autograph letter signed (twice) to Daniel de Monfreid.

A ½ in-4° page. [Hiva-Oa] April 1903

“It will be said all my life that I am condemned to fall, get up, fall again etc…”

One of Gauguin's very last letters, poignant, a few days before his death.

This is the last letter addressed to his friend Daniel de Monfreid; Gauguin was then already bedridden and condemned for slander: he died on May 8, 1903 at the age of 54, completely demoralized, before even being able to defend himself against this accusation. It is very likely that Gauguin was already dead when Monfreid received this letter.

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“My dear Daniel, I am sending you 3 paintings which you will receive – I am sending them directly to Mr Fayet so as not to have to be lugged around – probably after this letter. Will you tell Mr Fayet that this is about saving me. If the paintings do not suit him, let him take others from you or lend me 1500 F with all the guarantees he wants. – Here's why: I have just been the victim of a terrible trap.

After scandalous events in the Marquesas I wrote to the Administrator to ask him to carry out an investigation on this subject. I had not thought that the gendarmes are all in collusion, that the Administrator is from the governor's party etc... still the fact remains that the lieutenant requested the prosecution and that a bandit judge under the orders of the governor and the petty prosecutor that I had mishandled sentenced me, July 81 law on the press for a private letter, to 3 months in prison and a fine of 1000 F. I have to go on appeal to Tahiti.

Travel stay and especially lawyer fees!! how much will this cost me? This is my ruin and the complete destruction of my health. It will be said all my life that I am condemned to fall, get up, fall again, etc. All my old energy goes away every day. So do it as quickly as possible and tell Mr Fayet that I will be eternally grateful to him. Always yours from the heart. Paul Gauguin.

Here is the letter, nothing from you yet – Vollard has not written to me for 3 letters and has not sent me any money. Currently he is my debtor of 1500 F plus a balance for the paintings that I sent him. As a result, I am in debt of 1400 F to the commercial company just when I still have to ask them for money to go to Papeete etc. I am afraid that the company will refuse me and then I will be terribly in trouble. If he died or went bankrupt I hope you would have been informed. All these worries are killing me. P. Gauguin. »

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This letter from Paul Gauguin, written only a few days before his death, is addressed to Georges-Daniel de Monfreid (1856-1929), faithful friend, painter and sculptor, correspondent and representative of Gauguin in France during his stays in Tahiti and the islands Marquises. Monfreid defended his interests with Ambroise Vollard (1866-1939), art dealer, gallery owner, publisher and writer.

The distance from Gauguin, then living in the Marquesas since 1901, made epistolary exchanges difficult, with some letters sometimes arriving several months late. Gauguin is in difficulty. He said he was sending three paintings to the attention of Gustave Fayet (1865-1925), painter and collector: “Will you tell Mr Fayet that this is about saving me. If the paintings do not suit him, let him take others from you or lend me 1500 F with all the guarantees he wants . The tone is desperate while, already caught between a heart disease, the syphilis which ravages his body and his legs covered with eczema, Gauguin lives miserably in his house of Jouir.

Gauguin is overwhelmed. His natural despair is here accentuated by the recent conviction (by gendarme Guichenay), which hits him. Indeed, a month before writing this letter, on March 31, 1903, he was condemned as he explains in the letter: “I have just been the victim of a terrible trap (…) A bandit judge on the orders of the governor and the little prosecutor whom I had mishandled sentenced me to the July 81 law on the press for a private letter, to 3 months in prison and a fine of 1000 francs .

Gauguin was always particularly critical of the colonization of the Marquesas and regularly defended the inhabitants for whom the administrative system was completely incomprehensible. On March 10, on the occasion of the exceptional visit of two inspectors from the colonies on an official tour, Gauguin wrote a report for their attention, mentioning unjustified taxes, exaggerated fines, contraband trafficking, Catholic schools, etc. He adds: “Justice for reasons of economy is sent to us approximately every eighteen months. The judge therefore arrives in a hurry to judge (…) he sits at the gendarmerie, takes his meals there, seeing no one other than the brigadier who presents him with the files with his assessments.”

In this letter he goes even further: “After scandalous events in the Marquesas I wrote to the Administrator to ask him to carry out an investigation on this subject. I had not thought that the gendarmes are all in collusion . It is the report written by one of these two inspectors, André Salles, returning from his official tour, which particularly harms Gauguin: “The painter Gauguin endeavored to attack any established authority in the minds of the natives. , urging them not to pay tax and to no longer send their children to school.” Following this, the governor denounced Gauguin, calling him a “bad Frenchman”. Gauguin had filed a complaint against gendarme Guichenay, from Tahuata. The governor therefore seized on this pretext to authorize the commander of the gendarmerie to sue the painter for defamation, “ I have to go to Tahiti to appeal. Travel stay and especially lawyer fees!! How much will this cost me? This is my ruin and the complete destruction of my health .

Failing health and contrary justice overwhelm Gauguin, forced to resign himself to fate: “ It will be said all my life that I am condemned to fall, get up, fall again, etc.…” or “I am very afraid that Society will refuse me and so I will be terribly in the lake” (possible allusion to the terrible cyclone of January 7, 1903 which flooded his hut up to the first floor: “The torrent also sweeps away the bridge built by Gauguin on the Makemake. It therefore finds itself completely isolated in the middle of a lake").

“All these concerns are killing me” concludes the artist. In fact, he died a few days later, on May 8, 1953 at the age of 54. Upon learning of Gauguin's death, Vollard immediately wrote to Monfreid, in a letter dated August 29: “Very sad news. I have just been told of Gauguin's death. Have you heard anything similar. The news comes to me from Mr Ary Leblond who got it from the Ministry of Colonies. This will only make me hasten to send you a copy of Gauguin’s account.”

Daniel de Monfreid, recipient of our letter, was officially notified six days before Vollard by FV Picquenot, administrator in the Marquesas Islands on August 23, almost four months after Gauguin's disappearance. Mette Gauguin, the painter's wife, was still not aware of her husband's death almost five months after his death; it was Monfreid who informed her; she will ask him to continue to take care of her late husband's affairs: “I know that for years already you have been taking care of Paul's affairs and I would be very grateful to you, if for the love of him who is the more you want to continue”.

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Bibliography:

. Gauguin in Tahiti and the Marquesas Islands , Bengt Danielsson, Editions du Pacifique.

. Gauguin. David Haziot, Editions Fayard. 2017.

. Letters from Gauguin to Georges Daniel de Monfreid . Cres, 1918. LXXXIII.