Before Gauguin decisively distanced himself from the Parisian avant-garde in 1888, his artistic output gradually evolved from conventional Impressionism to a unique Post-Impressionist pictorial style that was greatly influenced by the work of Camille Pissarro and Paul Cézanne. Sur une chaise, painted in 1880, is an example of Gauguin’s artistic transformation in progress. While the subject of the still life was a time-honored tradition of Old Masters and Impressionists alike, it was also a genre that lent itself to endless possibilities of radical invention by vanguard artists. In this painting, Gauguin’s artistic innovations are plainly evident in his approach to perspective and the proto-Symbolist cropping of the scene. The mandolin, sharply outlined and without its strings, appears to balance precariously on the upholstered chair, its floral fabric merely suggested with brushstrokes that border on abstraction. Brilliant hues of color are introduced in the composition through the textile that gently drapes over the chair’s left arm, its woven texture masterfully rendered via Gauguin’s application of impasto.

The mandolin depicted here appears in several other works by Gauguin throughout his career (see fig. 1); however, he did not learn to play the instrument until 1889. When he did, Gauguin displayed a natural gift for music. In letters written to fellow Pont-Avenist Paul Sérusier and his wife Mette during his first stay in Tahiti, Gauguin described the company of his mandolin as an antidote to feelings of loneliness. In 1893, Gauguin found himself in desperate need of money for an urgent trip to Orléans for his uncle Isidore’s funeral and traded his beloved mandolin for an advance from Paul Sérusier’s brother Henri. However, it appears that the mandolin returned to his possession shortly thereafter; it is mentioned with frequency in correspondences during his final trip to the South Seas. After Gauguin’s death, the mandolin was found in its case, along with a guitar, a harp and a harmonium. It was sold at an auction of Gauguin’s belongings in Papeete for two francs.

The year before Gauguin painted this picture, he participated in the 4th Impressionist Exhibition both as an artist and patron, lending two Pissarro paintings from his personal collection. Only after this exhibition in 1879 did Gauguin begin to treat his own pursuits as an artist seriously. Shortly after its completion, Gauguin traded Sur une chaise for Danseuse adjustant son chausson, a pastel work by Edgar Degas, who brought Gauguin’s canvas to the 6th Impressionist Exhibition in 1881 (see fig. 2). The work remained in Degas’ collection until his death, when it was sold at the artist’s extensive estate auction at Galeries Georges Petit. Among other major Gauguin pictures exhibited at the 1881 exhibition were two other still lifes brimming with color and an accomplished interior scene featuring a life-sized female nude. Perhaps due to the absence of Monet, Renoir, Sisley and Caillebotte at the exhibition, Gauguin’s work received an unprecedented amount of attention from art critic Joris-Karl Huymans, whose review of Gauguin’s nude firmly established him as an integral member of the Impressionist movement.