Gabriel-Albert Aurier (5 May 1865 – 5 October 1892) was a French

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

, art critic and painter, associated with the Symbolist movement.

Career

The son of a notary born in

Châteauroux Châteauroux (; ; oc, Chasteurós) is the capital city of the French department of Indre, central France and the second-largest town in the province of Berry, after Bourges. Its residents are called ''Castelroussins'' () in French. Climate ...

, Indre, Aurier went to Paris in 1883 to study law, but his attention was soon drawn to art and literature; he then began to contribute to Symbolist periodicals. He reviewed the annual Salon in ''Le Décadent'', later contributed to ''

La Plume ''La Plume'' was a French bi-monthly literary and artistic review. The magazine was set up in 1889 by Léon Deschamps, who edited it for ten years and was succeeded as editor by Karl Boès from 1899 to 1914. Its offices were at number 31 rue Bo ...

'' and, in 1889, was the managing editor of '' Le Moderniste Illustré''. From its foundation in 1890, he contributed to the ''

Mercure de France The was originally a French gazette and literary magazine first published in the 17th century, but after several incarnations has evolved as a publisher, and is now part of the Éditions Gallimard publishing group. The gazette was published ...

'', which published the essays on which Aurier's fame was founded: "" and "". After a trip to Marseille, Aurier died at the age of twenty-seven in Paris, on 5 October 1892, from a typhus infection. The next day, friends, writers and artists accompanied his coffin on the funeral train departing from the

Gare d'Orsay Gare d'Orsay is a former Paris railway station and hotel, built in 1900 to designs by Victor Laloux, Lucien Magne and Émile Bénard; it served as a terminus for the Chemin de Fer de Paris à Orléans (Paris–Orléans Railway). It was the f ...

for Châteauroux, where his remains were entombed in the family grave. Six months after his death, in April 1893, his friends published his collected writings (Œuvres posthumes), edited by the Mercure de France.

Art collecting

Most of the Van Gogh paintings from Aurier's collection were acquired by

Helene Kröller-Müller Helene Kröller-Müller (11 February 1869 – 14 December 1939) was a German art collector. She was one of the first European women to put together a major art collection. She is credited with being one of the first collectors to recognise the ...

, and are now in the collections of the

Kröller-Müller Museum The Kröller-Müller Museum () is a national art museum and sculpture garden, located in the Hoge Veluwe National Park in Otterlo in the Netherlands. The museum, founded by art collector Helene Kröller-Müller within the extensive grounds of ...

, Otterlo (The Netherlands). Works by other artists from Aurier's estate -

Émile Bernard Émile Henri Bernard (28 April 1868 – 16 April 1941) was a French Post-Impressionist painter and writer, who had artistic friendships with Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin and Eugène Boch, and at a later time, Paul Cézanne. Most of his nota ...

, A. Fourmon, by unknown artists and Aurier himself - were first on public view in Paris, in 1960.See the items from the Williame Collection, Châteauroux, lent to the exhibition ''Les Amis de Van Gogh'',

Institut Néerlandais The Institut Néerlandais (1957–2013) was a non-profit institution in Paris devoted to the promotion of Dutch art and culture. One of the earliest foreign cultural centers in Paris, it was founded in 1957 by Frits Lugt. The Dutch Ministry of For ...

, Paris, 9 November - 17 December 1960.

Selected art criticism

* ''Les Isolés: Vincent van Gogh''
Mercure de France, January 1890, pp. 24-29

/small> * ''Le Symbolisme en peinture: Paul Gauguin''
Mercure de France, March 1891, pp. 155-165
* ''Les Symbolistes'', Revue encyclopédique 2, 1 April 1892, pp. 474–486, illustrated Gabriel Albert Aubrier - Les isolés - first page Article on Vincent van Gogh - Mercure de France, January 1890.jpg, Gabriel Albert Aurier: ''Les isolés'', article praising Vincent van Gogh, Mercure de France, January 1890. Vincent van Gogh - Letter to Albert Aurier - 9 or 10 February, 1890 - Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.jpg, Vincent van Gogh: Letter to Albert Aurier, 8 or 9 February 1890.

References and sources

;References ;Sources * * 1865 births 1892 deaths People from Châteauroux Symbolist poets French art critics French artists French art collectors 19th-century French journalists French male journalists French male poets 19th-century French poets 19th-century French male writers {{France-poet-stub