The Mango Trees, Martinique

This 1887 work by Gauguin demonstrates his progressive development away from Impressionist naturalism toward the symbolic, flattened, and emotionally charged style that would make him one of the most influential figures in the history of modern art. Gauguin abandoned a successful Parisian stockbroker career to pursue art, ultimately leaving Western civilization altogether in search of what he called 'primitive' authenticity, first in Brittany and then in Tahiti. His rejection of academic naturalism in favor of symbolic color and simplified form was foundational to Symbolism, Fauvism, and Expressionism.

Gauguin applied paint in broad, flat areas of strong color bounded by firm contour lines — a technique he called Synthetism, derived partly from medieval stained glass and Japanese prints. His palette is deliberately non-naturalistic, using vivid magentas, ochres.