Hommage to Gauguin

Copy of Deux Tahitiennes 1899, by Paul Gauguin
oil on wood panel
60 x 80 cm (approx.)
painted in 1984, Verona, Italy

private collection, Aurora, Ontario, Canada

A very early work made back in my days at the Accademia de Belli Arte, in Verona, Italy. I took it upon myself to make this copy of one of my favorite artist's, Paul Gauguin (1848 - 1903), who in the later part of his life settled in Tahiti, in the Polynesian Islands. Something about the subject of this particular painting by the post-impressionist master, that inspired me to make this painting. To bad I could not have done it directly from the original, as being a student in Verona, it was hardly possible to make the journey to visit the Metropolitian Museum of Art in New York City, where it is housed. It is a well known fact that copying master paintings can only help the up and coming art student to get a grip on composition and other qualities that go into making great works of art.

Via Grescia, (Chianglie), Sora, Italia

Road leading to Castel Santo Castro, Sora(Fr), Italia
oil on canvas
10 x 15 cm
painted on location, October 1984

private collection, Aurora, Ontario, Canada

Now this is a dry painting, for sure. Made when I had finally decided to bight the bullet, and made the choice to go to Italy in order to deepen my studies in the Fine Arts. Belle Arte, as they say in Italian. This is a scene of the historical center of the village were I was born. That dark thin object leading from the top of middle house to the wall on right edge, is not to dry clothes on, but rather to insure that the facades of these old houses don't collapse, as they have up till now survived many an earth tremor. It most likely was installed after the 1915 earthquake which destroyed about 40% of the buildings in this area.