Vache Accroupie by Paul Gauguin (1900)

Painting of a crouching cow, black and white with golden green around its head; described by Christie's as a 'minor Gauguin' but held by Alexander to be more innocent and greater than Gauguin's knowing works.

Neighborhood — ranked by edge-count

Thinkers (1)

thinker

Paul Gauguin
authored
Painter whose lake painting is cited as a high example of not-separateness

Concepts (3)

concept

Pleasing Yourself
associated_with
The core prescription of the chapter: making what truly pleases you at the deepest level, which Alexander argues is the key to creating all living structure and the path to the I.
Childlike Innocence
associated_with
The state of pure, unselfconscious making where one pleases oneself absolutely, free from rules and concepts—the closest we can come to the egoless state.
Vulnerability in Art-Making
associated_with
The quality of being too exposed, too close to the bone, that characterizes the best student work and explains why makers often hide their finest creations.

Claims (2)

claim

Gauguin himself was slightly ashamed of the cow picture, just as students are sometimes ashamed of their greatest works because they are too naive, too direct.
supports
Speculative claim that Gauguin felt the same vulnerability about Vache Accroupie that Alexander's students felt about their best work.
The cow is a greater work than Parahi te Marae because it penetrates deeper and is more that ultimate thing which Gauguin did to please himself.
about
Aesthetic judgment reversing the standard valuation of Gauguin's works based on the criterion of true self-pleasing.