In the first exhibition at the Fine Arts Museums dedicated to the work of Paul Gauguin (1848–1903), an exceptional display of more than fifty Gauguin paintings, wood carvings, and ceramics from the renowned collections of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen, will be on view for the first time in San Francisco.

In presenting these pieces alongside Oceanic art and Gauguin works on paper from the Fine Arts Museums’ permanent collections, the exhibition explores Gauguin’s inner quests and imaginings—his spiritual journey—and how his intimate relationships with his wife, other artists, and people he encountered during his sojourns shaped his experiences, his work, and his development as an artist.

Included in the exhibition is a new video work, First Impressions: Paul Gauguin by interdisciplinary artist Yuki Kihara, commissioned by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen, that addresses the colonial gaze represented by Gauguin and turns it back toward Western culture.