Do you have the Gauguin Syndrome?

Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?

Have you ever asked yourself these questions? No, this is not turning into a philosophy course. These questions comprise the title of one of Paul Gauguin’s most famous paintings. He painted it in 1867 in Tahiti and it is considered his masterpiece. This fact might reassure us, but Gauguin wrote to a friend that he had been on the verge of suicide after finishing the work. As you will see, Paul Gauguin had a tormented life and this heading gives us the foothold we need to explain the condition known as the “Gauguin Syndrome“.

¿De dónde venimos? ¿quiénes somos? ¿adónde vamos? – Paul Gauguin (1867)

Paul Gauguin’s story inspires the syndrome that bears his name (also known as the mid-life crisis) according to which a person feels the need to make a great life change and drop everything to pursue real motivation. Paul Gauguin’s life, as you know, is full of lights and shadows. Some biographers claim that he abandoned his life while others claim that life abandoned him because everything was going considerably wrong for him.

The facts behind the term Gauguin Syndrome are the main events of the protagonist’s life. He abandoned his home town of Paris, his job, family and social status and started a new life by developing skills for what truly drove him: painting. Spurred by the stimulus he had received about the South Seas, Gauguin went to Tahiti to capture the realities of the island’s luxuriant landscapes and its inhabitants. Not only that, his greatest ambition was to escape from the madding crowd.

That is how he ended up on the idyllic island of Hiva Oa in the Marquesas archipelago, where he spent the last years of his life. Although it all sounds very romantic, those last years were not exactly idyllic because he died sick, alone and penniless.

At this point you will have taken a quick retrospective look at your own life. Are you happy with yourself? Do you think you have achieved success? Whether you answered in the affirmative and are afraid of the unknown or, on the other hand, you feel the need to change, the entire process by which you approach the crisis and its subsequent conclusion and outcome is known as the Gauguin Syndrome.

We are not here to judge anyone, that’s not our calling. We are here to inspire. Whatever kind of person you are, how many times have you’ve thought of packing your bags and leaving everything behind?