Paul Gauguin (1848-1903)
Autograph letter signed ('Paul Gauguin') to Émile Schuffenecker, Martinique, 25 August 1887
In French. Two pages, 275 x 214mm, on paper with printed heading of the Dillies & Co. waterproof cloth company, Roubaix, 'P. Gauguin, Representant'. Provenance: Sotheby's, 5 December 1991, lot 455.

'Sell my paintings at 40-50 francs, everything I own at a low price but you have to get me out of here or I will die here like a dog': a desperate letter whilst penniless and ill in Martinique. Gauguin has received a parcel of mail for the first time since leaving Paris, but is dismayed not to have a letter from Schuffenecker: 'I cannot understand what can have tarnished your friendship for me. I still remember my departure and your words telling me to come back quickly – which is precisely what I want to do but I cannot .. I have fallen deathly ill of dysentery of the liver and marsh fever ... I can only now get better by taking to the seas and returning to my native land'. His friend and travelling companion Charles Laval will stay a while longer, but medical expenses have used up all their funds, and they are penniless. Some good news has come from Paris that a customer has admired Gauguin’s ceramics at the atelier of Ernest Chaplet, and proposes to set them up in business together. Reiterating his fears of having lost Schuffenecker’s friendship, Gauguin begs him to send 250 to 300 francs immediately: 'Sell my paintings at 40-50 francs, everything I own at a low price but you have to get me out of here or I will die here like a dog ... Come on, Schuff, one big push and I promise it will all be over. I know that I will get back on my feet with the ceramics (and I will have my painting too)'.

Je ne m’explique pas ce qui a pu ternir votre amitié. Je me souviens encore du départ et de vos paroles me disant de revenir au plus vite – et justement c’est ce que je veux faire mais je ne le peux … je suis tombé malade à la mort de la dyssentrie [sic] du foie et de la fièvre des marais … Je ne peux actuellement me guérir qu’en reprenant la mer et en revoyant le sol natal … Je vous en supplie ( à moins qu’il ne se soit passé quelque chose que je ne connaisse pas et qui vous rende hostile ) faites l’impossible pour m’envoyer 250 à 300 f immédiatement. Vendez de mes tableaux 40-50f, tout ce que je possède à vil prix mais il faut me tirer de là sinon je claque ici comme un chien … Allons Schuff un bon mouvement et je vous assure que tout cela prendra fin. Je sens qu’avec la céramique je me releverai ( et j’aurai ma peinture en plus –

Gauguin had set off with his painter friend Charles Laval at the beginning of the year, dreaming of settling on the Panamanian island of Taboga – his first attempt to abandon France in search of the exotic. The trip was a disaster, and after a traumatic period working as a labourer on the Panama Canal, the two friends headed to Martinique, where Gauguin was inspired by the light and landscapes, but became desperately ill, as recounted in the present letter. He in the end stayed until October, before returning to France. Émile Schuffenecker (1851-1934) was a friend from Gauguin's days as a stockbroker's accountant, and like Gauguin had abandoned commerce for life as an artist.