The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam is hunting down paintings by Paul Gauguin in a bid to exhibit all of the works made during the artist’s visit to the Caribbean island of Martinique. In 1887, Gauguin travelled to Panama with his friend and fellow painter Charles Laval in search of the exotic, but they soon ran out of money and moved on to Martinique, which they hoped would be a tropical paradise.

Sixteen of Gauguin’s pictures survive from the pair’s four-month stay, according to the 2001 Wildenstein catalogue raisonné. Half are in public collections, but the Amsterdam museum is having problems locating four which are privately owned, so it has taken the unusual step of advertising for information. The planned exhibition is due to open in October and will be the first to focus on the artists’ trip to Martinique, which foreshadowed Gauguin’s move to Tahiti.

• Gauguin and Laval in Martinique, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, 5 October-13 January 2019

UPDATE (8 February): The Van Gogh Museum says that it has now tracked down Gauguin's Little Washerwoman and Laval's coastal landscape. It is still seeking Fruit Porters at Turin Bight, Palms and Gourd Tree and Near the Huts.