Paul Gauguin has earned his place as one of the most significant artists of the European avant-garde. His works have also traveled to the postmodern Pacific, taking on roles outside his original artistic project. As an index of the tourist fantasy of Tahiti, adorning postcards and advertisements for cruise ships, Gauguin's paintings in a popular context underscore the intertwined histories of colonialism and exoticism. As a powerful symbol of imposed identities, they have also become one site of many for politicized response through the production of creative works by indigenous scholars, artists, and activists. The critical discourse on the artist, therefore, needs to shift: while continued art historical analysis of the artist's work is still needed, scholars should also account for the various sociopolitical arenas that Gauguin's work inhabits in the twenty-first century. Considering Gauguin's relationship to a variety of nineteenth-century vernacular productions, both written and visual, as well as the current popular reproduction of his works and appropriation by indigenous artists and writers, the language of photography and its role as material culture provides a rich model through which to re-examine his work. This essay argues that Gauguin's work and legacy are both productions of travel, and objects that have traveled to the present.
