Due to its popularity, an exhibit including paintings by Paul Gauguin will stay at the Maritime Museum of San Diego until July 31, a spokeswoman said today.
The exhibit, "Three Voyages to Paradise; Cook, Melville and Gauguin," depicts the voyages of Capt. James Cook to Tahiti in oil and watercolor paintings, sculptures and wood carvings.
The exhibit had been set to end Jan. 1, 2012.
Museum hours are 11 a.m.-3 p.m. daily. A museum spokeswoman said should arrive by 2 p.m. to see all the artwork. The exhibit includes 51 Gauguin pieces, as well as original works by 18th century artists John Webber and William Hodges, each of whom accompanied Cook on his voyage, officials said.
Gauguin, a Parisian by birth, is considered a post-impressionist painter and considered a key figure in the Symbolist movement. At age 17, he joined the French merchant marine and, later, the French navy. Initially he worked as a stockbroker in Paris. A contemporary and friend of Vincent Van Gogh's, he painted with the Van Gogh in Arles, France, for nine months in 1888
Gauguin sailed to French Polynesia in 1891, cutting off all contact with his family, and it was there that he painted some of his most memorable works.
