Paul Gauguin (French, 1848-1903)
oil on fabric, Framed: 92.39 x 112.71 x 6.35 cm (36 5/16 x 44 5/16 x 2 1/2 in.); Unframed: 74 x 92.8 cm (29 1/8 x 36 1/2 in.). Gift of Barbara Ginn Griesinger 1975.263
Disgusted with the materialism of European society, Gauguin abandoned his family and career as a stockbroker and departed for Tahiti in 1891. This canvas is among the first paintings he completed on the island. Its rich colors and stylized figures were intended to be both symbolic and mysterious, evoking private thoughts and emotions. “I obtain symphonies,” he wrote, “harmonies that represent nothing real in the absolute sense of the word.” Gift of Barbara Ginn Griesinger 1975.263
New York, Reinhardt Galleries. Paintings from El Greco and Rembrandt to Cézanne and Matisse (1927), no. 23, Te raau rahi. Lent by the Reinhardt Galleries (repr.). cma. French Art since 1800 (1929), CMA Bulletin 16 (1929): 168. cma 1936, no. 277 (repr.). New York, Wildenstein Gallery. A Loan Exhibition of Paul Gauguin (1946), no. 15 (repr.). Mexico City, Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes. Maestros del Impresionismo (Masters of Impressionsim) 11/17/98 - 2/28/99 pp. 90-93. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (10/1/99 - 1/4/00); Dallas Museum of Art (orgainzer-2/1/00 - 5/7/00); Museo Guggenhiem Bilbao (6/12/00 - 9/10/00) Degas to Picasso: The Painter, the Sculptor, and the Camera, exhib. cat. p. 134, cat. no. 122. CMA (organizer). Cleveland Museum of Art, Oct. 21, 2007- January 13, 2008: "Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art" Art Centre Basel (organizer). Seattle Art Museum (2/9/2012 - 4/29/2012): "Gauguin and Polynesia: South Pacific Encounters" Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome (10/12/2013 - 6/1/2014): Lend-back for "Van Gogh Repetitions" exhibiton Fondation Beyeler, Riehen, Switzerland (2/7/2015 - 6/28/2015): "Paul Gauguin: Painting Like God"
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