1894
oil
canvas
From the collection of Art Institute of Chicago
Mahana no atua (Day of the God) is a 1894 oil by Paul Gauguin, a Impressionism work, held at Art Institute of Chicago.
You see a group of people standing and lying on a hillside, surrounded by water and trees. The figures are arranged in a rhythmic pattern, which makes them look more like symbols than real people. This painting is interesting because it shows Gauguin's unique style, which blends reality and fantasy. You can learn more about this style by looking into the technique of impasto.
In this tropical paradise of the artist’s invention, a deity presides over figures walking and resting on an embankment. Rhythmically arranged in groups of two and three, the figures appear more as symbolic forms than as portraits of individuals. Pools of water in interlocking, abstract zones of acidic color surround the feet of a bather, who is flanked by two prone figures—or perhaps the same person seen from two angles. Unlike his other Tahitian-inspired landscapes, this painting was produced in Paris shortly after Paul Gauguin’s first trip to the island. Drawn from fantasy and memory, the…
Bought from the artist’s studio exhibition by Edgar Degas (died 1917), Paris in December 1894, for 500 francs [Degas inventory no. 71, see London 1996 and New York 1997-98]; Degas Sale, Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, March 26-27, 1918, lot 43, sold for 12,600 francs as Le Repos au bord de la mer (Tahiti) to Jos Hessel, Paris [according to New York 1997-98]. George Bernheim, Paris by 1924; shipped from Bernheim to the Art Institute in July 1924 [see Registrar receipt dated July 12, 1924, copy in curatorial file]; sold to Frederick Clay Bartlett, Chicago in 1925 [according to Brettell 1986];…
Boston, Art Club, 1925. New York, Museum of Modern Art, Cézanne, Gauguin, Seurat, Van Gogh, November 1929, cat. 46 (ill). The Art Institute of Chicago, Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, June 1–November 1, 1933, cat. 355. The Art Institute of Chicago, Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, June 1–November 1, 1934, cat. 301. Cambridge, Mass., Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Paul Gauguin 1848–1903, May 1–21, 1936, cat. 28. Baltimore, Museum of Art, Paul Gauguin 1848–1903. A Retrospective Exhibition of His Paintings, May 24–June 5, 1936, cat. 17.…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (; French: ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramist, and writer, whose work has been primarily associated with the Post-Impressionist and Symbolist movements.
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