Paul Gauguin with the “Noble Savage”
Thursday, February 14th, 2008Influenced by Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s back-to-Eden philosophy: “Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains. Those who think themselves the masters of others are indeed greater slaves than they”, Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) tried to return to the primitive state through art to find the “noble savage” or natural person.
Gauguin considered the life in Europe is “artificial and conventional… In order to do something new we must go back to the source, to humanity in its infancy.” Eventually, he went to Tahiti to seek the noble savage.
The concept of the noble savage, man living in harmony with nature, was popular in the 18th century. According to the concept, man shall not be corrupted by civilization. Jean-Jacques Rousseau supported the idea, though he never actually used the term. In Emile, he wrote: “Everything is good in leaving the hands of the creator of things; everything degenerates in the hands of man.”