Les vieilles filles à Arles

The Volpini Suite marks an important stage in the growth of Gauguin’s personal mythology – a moment when he `became Gauguin’. The technique Gauguin chose, that of lithography printed from zinc plates, was a daring and ambitious first attempt at printmaking for the artist. Although notoriously difficult to control, the dilute lithographic ink, known as tusche, offered the greatest potential for visual expression, allowing Gauguin to reinterpret scenes from his travels to Brittany, Martinique, and Arles between 1886 and 1888. The impressive range of textures and values he achieved whilst working on the plates over a six-week period is an astonishing achievement, given that he had no formal training. One of the most remarkable aspect of the Volpini Suite is Gauguin’s choice of large sheets of canary yellow paper on which to print it. Many theories have grown up to explain such an unorthodox decision. Some relate it to the fashion for brightly-colored Japanese woodblock prints then in vogue in Paris, others believe it may have been an attempt to provoke comment and controversy amongst the exhibition-going public, confronted by images floating on fields of vibrating yellow.