GAUGUIN, Paul
(b. 1848, Paris, d. 1903, Atuona, Hiva Oa, French Polynesia)

Fisherwomen of Tahiti

1891
Oil on canvas, 71 x 90 cm
Nationalgalerie, Berlin

Though Gauguin may have left Paris for Tahiti to discover an unspoiled island Paradise, his mental baggage included vivid memories of Greek and Egyptian sculpture, along with copies after Egyptian paintings, all closely studied at the Musée Trocadéro. So the Fisherwomen of Tahiti, painted in 1891, Gauguin's first year on the Pacific island, retains much of the sense of profile so strongly felt in ancient or tribal cultures.




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