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Details / Information for The Call

The Call

1902
(French, 1848–1903)
France, late 19th-early 20th Century
oil on fabric
Framed: 160.5 x 119 x 9.5 cm (63 3/16 x 46 7/8 x 3 3/4 in.); Unframed: 131.3 x 89.5 cm (51 11/16 x 35 1/4 in.)
Gift of the Hanna Fund 1943.392
Location: 222 Impressionism & Post-Impressionism
Public Domain
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Did You Know?

Although known as one of the founders of modern art, Gauguin found inspiration in ancient Greek, Roman, and Egyptian art. The woman with the pointing finger on the right side of this painting was taken from a figure on the Parthenon frieze.

Description

Painted on a remote island in Polynesia a year before the artist's death, The Call belongs to a series of late works that explore the mysteries of life and death. Two women stand with bare feet, as if on sacred ground. One woman gestures to someone outside the picture, perhaps responding to a "call" from fate or destiny. Gauguin realized his ambition of painting from memory and the imagination through such mysterious, dreamlike images.

The Call

1902

Paul Gauguin

(French, 1848–1903)
France, late 19th-early 20th Century

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