Tahitian Women on the Beach

Last updated
Tahitian Women on the Beach
Paul Gauguin 056.jpg
Artist Paul Gauguin
Year1891
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensions69 cm× 91 cm(27.2 in× 35.8 in)
Location Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Tahitian Women on the Beach (French: Femmes de Tahiti) is an oil painting by the French artist Paul Gauguin. [1] Depicting two Tahitian women, this piece is one of a series of works completed by Gauguin during his first stay on the Pacific island chain. Enamored by the environment and people of the islands and their separation from European cultural and aesthetic attitudes, Gauguin portrays two figures shrouded in the mystery and symbolism of Tahiti’s paradise. [2]

Contents

The painting is currently in the collection of the Musée d'Orsay, located in Paris, France. [1]

Context

The painting was constructed towards the conclusion of the artist’s first trip to Tahiti (1891-1893). Gauguin had travelled to the French Colony in search of what he described as “ecstasy, calm, and art,” away from European materialism. [3] These ideas reflected what he described in his letters to Van Gogh as “the savageness…that is also in myself.” [4] : 128  Although France’s colonial impact by that point washed away some of these qualities he had hoped to find, [5] Gauguin nevertheless was productive and created this particular piece within the context of a greater series of many other works. Art historians today most associate these works with Gauguin's symbolist, syntheticist, and primitive styles. [6] The works depict natives (almost all of whom are women) in an ideal, unspoiled Eden. [7]

Gauguin, Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?, 1897 Paul Gauguin - D'ou venons-nous.jpg
Gauguin, Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?, 1897

These works belong to the middle point in Gauguin’s career; they center on Tahitian subjects yet while retaining a sense of reality that is less present in his later works such as Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? , which focus less on observation and more on the symbolic and supernatural. [8] Tahitian Women on the Beach was eventually sent by Gauguin to Paris to be exhibited by Durand-Ruel at the suggestion of Gauguin’s friend and biggest supporter, Edgar Degas. [4] : 129 

Composition and analysis

The piece depicts two Tahitian women sitting statically in a state of aloof indolence. Although a topic of debate amongst art historians, the title is misleading in that the two women may not be on the beach. The diagonal lines in the ocher and yellow paint zones as well as the white lines in the background separating the green and blue may represent architecture rather than sand and waves. The art historian Charles Stuckey suggests that the ambiguity only adds to the mystery and sense of unknown felt in the piece. [9] Unlike his previous Tahitian paintings, these women aren't actively engaged in any type of work. [10] While the woman on the left is wearing traditional native pareu , the one on the right is covered by a missionary dress that indicates French colonial influence and the enduring presence of Christian missionary efforts upon the islands. [11] [8] : 475 

The women themselves are mysterious, evoking melancholy. Gauguin was mystified by this new world and its silence in particular, which he said "is even stranger than anything else...I can understand why these people can remain hours and days sitting immobile and gazing at the sky." [2] : 26  This silence and the women's reflection of it is palpable, challenging European conceptions of paradise and instead revealing the mystery behind it. The women's features also challenge existing ideas. Their deep amber-colored skin and powerful physiques display immense musculature, making them almost androgynous figures that are more akin to sculptures. [2] : 27  At the same time, their faces seem more like masks, turning the painting away from portraiture towards genre. [10] : 60  By depicting them this way, Gauguin challenges European notions of beauty and paradise. [10] : 60  [1]

Manet, On the Beach, 1873 Edouard Manet - On the Beach - Google Art Project.jpg
Manet, On the Beach, 1873

Compositionally, the painting departs from the conventions of the era. Gauguin crowds the two figures into the space of the canvas, yet they are completely independent of one another. [11] : 236  Art historians have compared this aspect of the work to the treatment of figures in Manet's On the Beach. [9] : 236 

The colors Gauguin employs include orange, yellow, pink, ocher, deep reds, turquoises, and browns. These colors are arranged in an ornamental and pattern-like structure. [10] : 60  The elements of line and color form simplified shapes and motifs. This construction is typical of symbolism, synthetism/cloisonism, and primitivism. While the painting is centered on reality unlike his later works, Gauguin's observations of Tahitian life are deconstructed through his composition to highlight the mystery and strangeness around the idea of Tahiti's paradise, bending the conceptions of this reality. [8] : 478–481  Gauguin achieved this symbolic conception of the women and their environment through his usage of synthetism. A term he coined himself, it was derived from cloisonism, which used dark lines to separate flat sections of color to reduce the sense of the real, observable subject and instead focus on the inner, symbolic poetry of it. [8] : 473  The piece, through this technique, blends the reality of Gauguin's observations with this mystical world. This mysticism also relates to the painting's most controversial aspect: primitivism. Art historians long described the work as part of Gauguin's reaction against the "oppressiveness" of European civilization. [12] However, more recently, art historians have criticized this work as a reflection of colonial imperialism over natives, suggesting that this painting and others involved exploitation of native "savageness." [13]

Parau Api (What News?)

Gauguin, Parau api (What News?), 1892 Parau api, by Paul Gauguin.jpg
Gauguin, Parau api (What News?), 1892

Parau api , completed in 1892, is a variant reproduction of Tahitian Women on the Beach. Gauguin was reportedly enraged when Parau api was sold, and the work underscores how important Tahitian Women on the Beach was to him. [10] It contains virtually all the same elements but includes a number of modifications. Gauguin removes the missionary dress for a striped pareu. The ocher color is also replaced with a deep yellow. Most importantly, however, the addition of a wood post in the upper-right corner of the piece provides some additional evidence that in fact the women are not on the beach but rather sit on a traditional Tahitian veranda. [9] Parau api is currently exhibited at the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen in Dresden, Germany. [14] : 236 

See also

List of paintings by Paul Gauguin

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Musée d'Orsay</span> Art museum in Paris, France

The Musée d'Orsay is a museum in Paris, France, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1914, including paintings, sculptures, furniture, and photography. It houses the largest collection of Impressionist and post-Impressionist masterpieces in the world, by painters including Berthe Morisot, Claude Monet, Édouard Manet, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne, Seurat, Sisley, Gauguin, and van Gogh. Many of these works were held at the Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume prior to the museum's opening in 1986. It is one of the largest art museums in Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Gauguin</span> French artist (1848–1903)

Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct from Impressionism. Toward the end of his life, he spent ten years in French Polynesia. The paintings from this time depict people or landscapes from that region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Synthetism</span> Art style

Synthetism is a term used by post-Impressionist artists like Paul Gauguin, Émile Bernard and Louis Anquetin to distinguish their work from Impressionism. Earlier, Synthetism has been connected to the term Cloisonnism, and later to Symbolism. The term is derived from the French verb synthétiser.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cloisonnism</span>

Cloisonnism is a style of post-Impressionist painting with bold and flat forms separated by dark contours. The term was coined by critic Édouard Dujardin on the occasion of the Salon des Indépendants, in March 1888. Artists Émile Bernard, Louis Anquetin, Paul Gauguin, Paul Sérusier, and others started painting in this style in the late 19th century. The name evokes the technique of cloisonné, where wires are soldered to the body of the piece, filled with powdered glass, and then fired. Many of the same painters also described their works as Synthetism, a closely related movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Laval</span> French painter

Charles Laval was a French painter associated with the Synthetic movement and Pont-Aven School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Primitivism</span> Art movement

In the arts of the Western World, Primitivism is a mode of aesthetic idealization that means to recreate the experience of the primitive time, place, and person, either by emulation or by re-creation. In Western philosophy, Primitivism proposes that the people of a primitive society possess a morality and an ethics that are superior to the urban value system of civilized people.

<i>The Yellow Christ</i> 1889 painting by Paul Gauguin

The Yellow Christ is a painting executed by Paul Gauguin in 1889 in Pont-Aven. Together with The Green Christ, it is considered to be one of the key works of Symbolism in symbolic mythological paintings of the older era as represented by Symbolism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meijer de Haan</span> Dutch painter

Meijer Isaac de Haan was a Dutch painter. In French the name was written Meyer de Haan.

<i>Oviri</i> 1894 ceramic sculpture by Paul Gauguin

Oviri is an 1894 ceramic sculpture by the French artist Paul Gauguin. In Tahitian mythology, Oviri was the goddess of mourning and is shown with long pale hair and wild eyes, smothering a wolf with her feet while clutching a cub in her arms. Art historians have presented multiple interpretations—usually that Gauguin intended it as an epithet to reinforce his self-image as a "civilised savage". Tahitian goddesses of her era had passed from folk memory by 1894, yet Gauguin romanticises the island's past as he reaches towards more ancient sources, including an Assyrian relief of a "master of animals" type, and Majapahit mummies. Other possible influences include preserved skulls from the Marquesas Islands, figures found at Borobudur, and a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist temple in central Java.

<i>Two Tahitian Women</i> Painting by Paul Gauguin

Two Tahitian Women is an 1899 painting by Paul Gauguin. It depicts two topless women, one holding mango blossoms, on the Pacific Island of Tahiti. The painting is part of the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and was donated to the museum by William Church Osborn in 1949.

<i>When Will You Marry?</i> 1882 Painting by Paul Gauguin

When Will You Marry? is an oil painting from 1892 by the French Post-Impressionist artist Paul Gauguin. On loan to the Kunstmuseum in Basel, Switzerland for nearly a half-century, it was sold privately by the family of Rudolf Staechelin to Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad Al-Thani, in February 2015 for close to US$210 million, one of the highest prices ever paid for a work of art. The painting was on exhibition at the Fondation Beyeler, Riehen, until 28 June 2015.

<i>Nave Nave Mahana</i> 1896 painting by Paul Gauguin

Nave Nave Mahana was made in 1896 by Paul Gauguin in Tahiti. It is kept in the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon. The painting became part of the collections of the Lyon Museum in 1913.

<i>Fatata te Miti</i> (By the Sea) 1892 painting by Paul Gauguin

Fatata te Miti is an 1892 oil painting by French artist Paul Gauguin, located in the National Gallery of Art, in Washington, DC.

<i>Merahi metua no Tehamana</i> Painting by Paul Gauguin

Merahi metua no Tehamana is an 1893 painting by the French artist Paul Gauguin, currently in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. The painting is a portrait of Paul Gauguin's wife Teha'amana during his first visit to Tahiti in 1891–1893. This marriage has always provoked controversy because it was arranged and completed in the course of a single afternoon and Gauguin claimed Teha'amana was just thirteen years old at the time.

<i>Soyez amoureuses vous serez heureuses</i> 1889 art piece by Paul Gauguin

Soyez amoureuses vous serez heureuses is a bas-relief wood panel carved and polychromed by French artist Paul Gauguin in the autumn of 1889. Gauguin depicts himself in the upper right, sucking his thumb and grasping the hand of the fleshy nude woman, a Polynesian or African, who seems to recoil in fear.

<i>Arii Matamoe</i> Painting by Paul Gauguin

Arii Matamoe or The Royal End is a painting on coarse cloth by the French artist Paul Gauguin, created in 1892 during the painter's first visit to Tahiti. It depicts a man's severed head on a pillow, displayed before mourners, and although it did not depict a common or contemporary Tahitian mourning ritual, may have been inspired by the death of Pōmare V in 1891 shortly after Gauguin's arrival. A curator for the J. Paul Getty Museum suggested Gauguin likely painted the canvas "to shock Parisians" upon his expected return to the city.

<i>Self-Portrait with the Yellow Christ</i> Painting by Paul Gauguin

Self-Portrait with the Yellow Christ is an 1890 or 1891 painting by Paul Gauguin, produced in Pont-Aven in Brittany and now in the musée d'Orsay in Paris, to which it was assigned after its purchase by the French state in 1994 with financial assistance from Philippe Meyer and a Japanese patron.

<i>Parau na te varua ino</i> Painting by Paul Gauguin

Parau na te varaua ino is an 1892 oil on canvas painting by Paul Gauguin, produced during the artist's first stay on Tahiti. It is now in the National Gallery of Art

Joseph Ange Léon Octave Morillot was a French painter who worked in French Polynesia for much of his life. He was the brother of French naval hero Roland Morillot.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Femmes de Tahiti". musée d'Orsay. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 Shackleford, George T.M (2004). Gauguin Tahiti. Boston, MA: MFA Publications. pp. 23–33.
  3. ↑ "Femmes de Tahiti". www.musee-orsay.fr. Retrieved 12 Nov 2023.
  4. 1 2 Paltry, Sylvie; Guégan, Stephanie (2010). Post-impressionist masterpieces from the musée d'orsay. San Francisco: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. pp. 126–130.
  5. ↑ Rapetti, Rodolphe (2003). "Gauguin, Paul". Grove Art Online. Retrieved 2023-11-15.
  6. ↑ JIRAT-WASIUTYŃSKI, VOJTĚCH (1982). "1886-91 Cloisonism, Synthetism and Symbolism" (PDF). Revue d'art canadienne. 9: 35–46. doi:10.7202/1074970ar. JSTOR   42630024 – via JSTOR.
  7. ↑ Maisels, Ziva Amishai (1973). "Gauguin's 'Philosophical Eve'". The Burlington Magazine. 115 (843): 373–379+381–382. JSTOR   877381 – via JSTOR.
  8. 1 2 3 4 ten-Doesschate Chu, Petra (2006). Nineteenth-Century European Art (3rd ed.). NJ: Prentice Hall. p. 478. ISBN   0-205-70799-8.
  9. 1 2 3 Brettell, Richard; Cachin, Françoise; Frèches-Thory, Claire; Stuckey, Charles F. (1988). The Art of Paul Gauguin. Chicago: National Gallery of Art; Art Institute of Chicago. pp. 235–236. ISBN   0821217232.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 Becker, Christoph (1998). Paul Gauguin: Tahiti. Ostfildern-Ruit Germany: G. Hatje. pp. 60–66. ISBN   3775707441.
  11. 1 2 Groom, Gloria-Lynn (2017). Gauguin : artist as alchemist (1st ed.). Chicago, Illinois: The Art Institute of Chicago. p. 208. ISBN   9780300217018.
  12. ↑ Knapp, James F. (1989). "Primitivism and Empire: John Synge and Paul Gauguin". Comparative Literature. 41 (1): 53–68 – via JSTOR.
  13. ↑ Maleuvre, Didier (2018). "The Trial of Paul Gauguin". Mosaic: An Interdisciplinary Critical Journal. 51 (1): 197–213 – via JSTOR.
  14. ↑ "Art from the Romantic period to the present day". Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden. November 18, 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.