The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Tahitian Women Bathing

Tahitian Women Bathing

Paul Gauguin (French, Paris 1848–1903 Atuona, Hiva Oa, Marquesas Islands)

Date:: 1892
Culture:: French
Medium:: Oil on paper, laid down on canvas
Dimensions:: 43 3/4 x 35 1/8 in
Classification:: Paintings
Credit Line:: Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
Accession Number:: 1975.1.179

This artwork is not on display

Description

Most likely started in May of 1892 during Gauguin’s first trip to Tahiti, this painting has provoked uncertainty among scholars for its unusual composition and medium. The composition is dominated by large, oddly proportioned figures. They are detached from one another as well as from their surroundings, remaining somewhat unearthly and autonomous. The painting was originally executed on inexpensive paper, which the artist often employed during his stay in Tahiti. Gauguin’s dealer, Ambroise Vollard, later lined the work of art with canvas and overpainted portions of the top left corner, presumably to make the painting more appropriate for sale if it was either damaged or left unfinished.

Both the medium and autonomy of figures is probably due to the fact that this painting began as a set of preparatory drawings, most likely for other paintings, which at some point the artist weaved into an original composition.
Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Inscription: Signed (lower right): P.Gauguin / .
Provenance

Ambroise Vollard, Paris; Alphonse Kann, Saint-Germain-en-Laye; Galerie Barbazanges, Paris; M. Oliver, Esq., London; Bignou Gallery, New York, by 1935; Josiah Marvel, Jr., Philadelphia; acquired through M. Knoedler & Co., New York, by Robert Lehman, New York, May 1950.
See also
Who
Paul Gauguin (71)
What
Paper (23,968)

Paintings (12,464)

Canvas (4,596)

Oil paintings (2,913)
Where
Europe (148,586)

France (52,276)
When
A.D. 1800-1900 (80,185)
In the Museum
Robert Lehman Collection (2,589)
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
Symbolism

Paul Gauguin (1848–1903)

Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890): The Drawings

Post–Impressionism

Impressionism: Art and Modernity

The Nabis and Decorative Painting

Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890)

The Print in the Nineteenth Century

Japonisme

France, 1800–1900 A.D.
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Paul Gauguin (French, Paris 1848–1903 Atuona, Hiva Oa, Marquesas Islands)

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Tahitian Women Bathing

Paul Gauguin (French, Paris 1848–1903 Atuona, Hiva Oa, Marquesas Islands)

Met Media

Met Kids

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