Artwork Page for In the Waves (Dans les Vagues)

Details / Information for In the Waves (Dans les Vagues)

In the Waves (Dans les Vagues)

1889

Paul Gauguin

(French, 1848–1903)
Culture
France, 19th century
Medium
oil on fabric
Measurements
Framed: 123.8 x 106 x 7 cm (48 3/4 x 41 3/4 x 2 3/4 in.); Unframed: 92.5 x 72.4 cm (36 7/16 x 28 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William Powell Jones 1978.63
Public Domain
You can copy, modify, and distribute this work, all without asking permission. Learn more about CMA's Open Access Initiative.
Location
222 Impressionism & Post-Impressionism
Print
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Did You Know?

Gauguin likely painted this work of art during his time in a small coastal village called Pont-Aven where he sought to immerse himself in nature and escape modern civilization.

Description

Painted at Pont-Aven in northwest France, this depiction of a nude figure throwing herself into the sea suggests a metaphor for a modern European woman forsaking civilization and abandoning herself to her natural, primitive instincts. The simplified lines and exaggerated colors, especially the contrasting green and orange, seem invented rather than observed from life. Exhibiting the painting at the Café Volpini in Paris in 1889, Gauguin established himself as a leader of the Symbolist movement in art.
Vertically-oriented oil painting painted with dark green waves through which a nude woman with light skin tone swims, her body arcing out of the water from the buttocks up, extending diagonally from the lower left to upper right. With defined contours, she raises her arms, elbows bent, and looks up, solid red-orange hair falling over her left shoulder and contrasting with the green waves. Rows of arcing white streaks highlight the frothing waves.

In the Waves (Dans les Vagues)

1889

Paul Gauguin

(French, 1848–1903)
France, 19th century

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