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The painters

William Hodges (1744-1797) participated in James Cook's first voyage to chart lands and the details of their coastlines. He also painted, on site and when back in England, landscapes showing magnificent skies, a golden luminosity, a luscious tropical vegetation, canoes of various sizes and shapes as well as illustrations of tattoo patterns. Later the missionaries made efforts to erase all traces of Polynesian culture, and did so well that by the middle of the 20th century everything was practically forgotten. It was, among other things, due to this artist's paintings and many drawings that the Polynesian revival started around 1975 was able to rediscover its true roots. A well deserved tribute is therefor due to this man who observed nature not aware that while doing so, his testimony had considerable value.

The Painters during the 19th century colonisation, Lejeune, Marescot, Goupil, Lebreton, Giraud (aka the Tahitian), left us paintings of ancient Tahiti and portraits, namely one of Queen Pomare, by Giraud, exhibited at the Museum of Tahiti and her islands.

Radiguet, secretary of Admiral Dupetit-Thouars, left drawings and watercolors including one showing Queen Pomare and her suite coming out of church.

Paul Gauguin is of course the most famous painter who lived in Polynesia.
 See the album of his paintings.

Comprehensive file on Gauguin
 
Inspired by the writings of Pierre Loti about Tahiti, and after a brief artistic adventure with Van Gogh, he arrived in Tahiti en 1891 on official mission for the French Government. Gauguin first lived in Papeete and then settled in a village where the people were his models. He made every effort to render their melancholic and dreaming expressions while trying to restitute the simple maohi life: " here near my cabon, I dream of violent harmonies, whose natural fragrances are exhilarating me". His exotic scenes with violent colors filled with purple and gold colors generated only limited appreciation in Paris, when he came back to France. He came back to Tahiti in 1895, and left for the Marquesas where he lived in his "Maison du Jouir " (House of pleasure), and  died at 57 in 1903, in poverty and practically unknown. Paul Gauguin is buried in Hiva-Oa near French singer and poet Jacques Brel. His works are scattered all over the world and exhibitions dedicated to them attract large crowds who, through his painting, get an enticing vision of Tahitian exoticism.   In Tahiti, the Gauguin Museum showcases 25 original works and several films on his life and work.