COPENHAGEN.- Throughout his career, Gauguin pursued the ideal conditions for life as an artist. Yet wherever he went, reality seldom lived up to his expectations. When reality fell short, however, imagination was given free rein in his artistic worlds. This is the starting point for the Glyptotek’s upcoming collection presentation, Gauguin & Kihara – First Impressions, which also features an important new acquisition grappling explicitly with Gauguin’s work.


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The Glyptotek holds one of the world’s finest collections of works by the French artist Paul Gauguin (1848–1903). In recent years, many of the museum’s 58 Gauguin pieces—including paintings, woodcarvings, drawings and ceramics—have been on loan to renowned museums across the globe. Now, they return home to be shown together in a presentation, opening on 8 May, offering new perspectives on Gauguin’s well-known works.

This spring, the Gauguin collection is joined by the Japanese-Sāmoan contemporary artist Yuki Kihara (b. 1975) and her video work First Impressions: Paul Gauguin, recently acquired by the museum. Together, their works open a dialogue across time, cultural divides and vast oceanic distances.

The eternal pursuit

Gauguin’s futile search for the ideal conditions for an artist’s life took him from Paris to Copenhagen, through Normandy, Brittany and Arles, and onwards to the then-French colonies of Martinique, Tahiti and the Marquesas Islands. When reality proved disappointing, he let his imagination run free, creating artistic worlds on his own terms. ‘Who cares about accuracy!!’ he declared. The Glyptotek delves not only into this artistic journey but also into the physical, political and historical contexts that shaped it, examining how Gauguin depicted the places and cultures he encountered along the way.

“Gauguin moved through the world in a way not unlike today’s tourists. Like the traveller who crops out souvenir stalls from their holiday photos and seeks out restaurants touted as “hidden gems” in various guidebooks, Gauguin pursued the idea of authenticity, often viewing his destinations through the lens of existing narratives and images. Having spent nearly a decade in the South Pacific, Gauguin may have lived too long in the region to be called a tourist, but this comparison opens a conversation in which Gauguin’s works are not solely a matter of his distinctive colours, uniform surfaces and bold contours. They also offer insight into the cultural, political and social contexts in which they were created, challenging us still today to reflect on our own time. Through what lens do we, as modern-day tourists and cultural consumers, view the world?” says Anna Kærsgaard Gregersen, curator of the French collection at the Glyptotek.

Striking new acquisition

The Glyptotek has acquired a contemporary artwork that offers a modern interpretation of one of Western art history’s most iconic—and most controversial—artists. The new acquisition, and the museum’s first video work, First Impressions: Paul Gauguin (2018), is by the Japanese-Sāmoan contemporary artist Yuki Kihara.

“I remember thinking how strange it was to be in front of [Paul Gauguin’s] paintings, as if time and space had collapsed. Here we were as artists from two different parts of the world having a dialogue in two different moments in history,” says Yuki Kihara, reflecting on her first real encounter with Gauguin’s works.

Presented in the format of a talk show, the video work features a host and panel who are shown reproductions of Gauguin paintings from Tahiti (including two from the museum’s own collection), after which they share their first impressions. As the conversation unfolds, Gauguin fades into the background, giving way to the participants’ own perspectives and speculative stories about the paintings’ models.

Both Kihara and the talk show participants belong to the Fa’afafine and Fa’atama communities, the Sāmoan counterparts to Māhū, a Tahitian term referring to individuals endowed with spiritual gifts from more than one gender. In colonial times, the Māhū were banned by missionaries, but researchers believe that several of Gauguin’s figures may depict Māhū—a theory also discussed among the panel.

“With humour and gravity, Kihara directs the colonial gaze back towards the West, reclaiming her community’s power to shape their own narrative. This acquisition initiates vital conversations across time and place, holding the museum and Western art history accountable, and challenging us to acknowledge historical nuance and the contemporary voices traditionally excluded from discussions surrounding Gauguin’s complex oeuvre,” explains Anna Kærsgaard Gregersen.

The collection presentation opens on 8 May and will be on view until 6 December 2026. It will be shown in the Henning Larsen building, which will, in coming years, house an extensive selection of the Glyptotek’s French collections. This initiative is part of the museum’s commitment to strengthening the presentation of French art and culture, its collection being among the most significant in the Nordic region.



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