Gauguin La Perte Du Pucelage (The Loss of Virginity) 1890-91
The model, Juliette, is to bear Gauguin’s child. The fox, representing Gauguin, is the seducer, the trickster. Gauguin was ridden with guilt for lying to women about his feelings in order to seduce them. Yet, if you look at the fox more closely, he’s looking back at you. As you the viewer gaze upon Juliette’s naked body, Gauguin seems to be including you in his voyeuristic seduction. The girl, taken out of her Breton community (glimpsed in the background) appears paralysed, passive, unable to move except to curl her toes, unable to look her seducer - the fox, and you the viewer - in the eye. The vibrant, clashing colours, green, magenta, cyan and yellow, are a reaction against nineteenth century ideas that colours in a painting ought to be harmonious. They suggest that times are moving on, that the traditional community is being broken apart by trade and commerce, by new ideas contained within the form of the very painting itself, which allows the fox – and you – the opportunity for seduction.
Gauguin Study for La perte de Pucelage (The Loss of Virginity) c.1890-91. Chalk. Block collection, Chicago.
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