{"id":246398,"date":"2025-10-28T13:24:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T13:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/246398\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T13:24:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T13:24:08","slug":"paul-gauguins-final-self-portrait-previously-decried-as-fake-is-authentic-museum-concludes-the-art-newspaper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/246398\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul Gauguin\u2019s final self portrait\u2014previously decried as fake\u2014is authentic, museum concludes – The Art Newspaper"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paul Gauguin\u2019s last self-portrait\u2014recently argued to be a fake\u2014is authentic, according to new research at the Kunstmuseum Basel. However, part of the face was retouched after the artist\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

The museum\u2019s extensive investigation began after the Gauguin researcher Fabrice Fourmanoir alleged<\/a>, in May, that the picture was painted in 1916, 13 years after Gauguin\u2019s death. He believes that this was done by Nguyen Van Cam (also known as Ky-Dong), a Vietnamese friend of the artist on the Marquesas island of Hiva Oa.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the Kunstmuseum Basel says that the Gauguin attribution \u201cremains valid\u201d, although their technical analysis \u201crevealed that certain areas of the face were\u2026 retouched\u201d after his death. This retouching, which is visible under ultraviolet light, was found on the forehead, eyes, nose, chin beard and throat.<\/p>\n

Although the museum\u2019s statement does not discuss the implications of the findings, its self-portrait is particularly significant in Gauguin\u2019s oeuvre, since it has determined how we perceive the artist in his final year. It shows Gauguin appearing weak and vulnerable, unlike the brash and confident face of his earlier self-portraits.<\/p>\n

In regards to the dating of the retouching, the museum\u2019s conservators found the presence of titanium white pigment in the overpainted areas, including above the left eye. This pigment was not available until 1918, so the overpainting must have been done after that. The retouching can be seen in a 1926 photograph, which means it was completed by then.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The self-portrait under ultraviolet light. Some of darker areas of the face are overpaint<\/p>\n

Kunstmuseum Basel, Verm\u00e4chtnis Dr. Karl Hoffmann. Photo: Max Ehrengruber<\/p>\n

Fourmanoir\u2019s argument that the original painting had been made by Gauguin\u2019s Vietnamese friend from a photograph is rejected in the statement, however the Kunstmuseum Basel does concede that it was \u201cpossibly [done] with the artist enlisting the help of Nguyen Van Cam\u201d\u2014although \u201cthe evidence is inconclusive\u201d.<\/p>\n

In conclusion, the museum says that it is \u201chighly unlikely that the painting is a later forgery\u201d and it is \u201cmore likely that it was produced by Gauguin\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Wildenstein Plattner Institute, which publishes the Gauguin catalogue raisonn\u00e9, examined the painting on 9 October. Its specialists confirmed the attribution.<\/p>\n

As for the provenance, the painting was given by Gauguin to Ky Dong\u00a0in 1903, who two years later gave it to Louis Gr\u00e9let, a friend. Gr\u00e9let put it up for sale at Sotheby\u2019s in 1924 but it failed to sell. The painting was then bought by Louis Francis Ormond (related to the artist John Singer Sargent). In 1928 it was acquired by the Basel-based paediatrician Karl Hoffmann, who bequeathed it to the museum in 1945.<\/p>\n

The retouching was most likely done just before or after the 1924 Sotheby\u2019s auction, by an unknown hand. There are no plans to remove the retouches, since some of Gauguin\u2019s original paint on the face has been damaged and the 1918-26 additions are part of the picture\u2019s history. The self-portrait has now been returned to the Kunstmuseum Basel\u2019s permanent collection display.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paul Gauguin\u2019s last self-portrait\u2014recently argued to be a fake\u2014is authentic, according to new research at the Kunstmuseum Basel.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[449,458,459,64,63,460,134,146376,112642,94297],"class_list":{"0":"post-246398","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-design","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-kunstmuseum-basel","16":"tag-paul-gauguin","17":"tag-provenance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}