Riders on the Beach is a 1902 Primitive Neo-Impressionist painting by French artist Paul Gauguin.
Analysis of Riders on the Beach
Riders on the Beach is based in Paul Gauguin’s beloved Tahiti, a place whose ‘primitive’ lifestyle he saw as an antidote to western pessimism. Stylistically, the 1902 picture seems to operate at the intersection of Impressionism and his later Cloisonnism.
In terms of his application of small dashes of paint of varying colors and the blurry light effects, this work is impressionistic. However, the stark and bold drawing outlines, especially of the rider on the left seen in profile, looks forward to Gauguin’s Cloisonnism, or segregation of different forms.
Riders on the Beach Location
Paul Gauguin’s Riders on the Beach in the Folkwang Museum in Essen, Germany.