Final answer:
Paul Gauguin, associated with the Post-Impressionist and Symbolist art movements, sought a "primitive" art style, characterized by bold colors and symbolic representations, influenced by his time in Tahiti.
Step-by-step explanation:
Paul Gauguin, an artist linked to the Post-Impressionist movement, is renowned for his use of bold primitive colours and his significant impact on modern art. Gauguin sought after a more "primitive" lifestyle and artistic expression, which he found by leaving Europe for Tahiti. There, he created works that utilized stark color contrasts and were heavily influenced by the landscapes, people, and culture he encountered. His art developed into the Symbolist style, characterized by its use of color and form to represent spiritual truths and emotional states rather than to describe the physical world.
Even though Gauguin did not find substantial recognition or financial success during his lifetime in France, his exhibitions posthumously in Paris at the Salon d'Automne were influential. Icons in art such as Picasso were inspired by Gauguin's primitivism, integrating elements of African and Iberian art into their work. Gauguin's oeuvre is distinguished by his aspiration to escape Western civilization and explore a purer form of artistic expression through a synthesis of Western art and Eastern motifs in the idyllic settings of French Polynesia.