Description:  The picture was painted during Gauguin's second period in Tahiti (1895-1901). His poverty at the time is reflected in the coarse weave of the canvas. It was one of a number of pictures related to and including Where do we come from? (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) exhibited at the end of 1898 in Ambroise Vollard's gallery in Paris. Gauguin's non-representational use of colour is marked; in February 1898 he completed an essay he had been writing on the subject.

Inscriptions / Translations:  Signed and dated l.r.: P. Gauguin 97.

Notes:  Exhibited: 'The Art of Paul Gauguin', National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1 May - 31 July 1988, then Art Institute of Chicago 17 September - 11 December 1988 and Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, 10 January - 20 April 1989; 'Gauguin Tahiti: L'atelier des tropiques', Galeries National du Grand Palais, Paris, 30 September 2003 - 19 January 2004 and at The Museum of Fine Art, Boston, 29 February - 20 June 2004; 'Destinations of Desire - Travelling with Artists', Landesmuseum fur Kunst, Munster, 28 September - 11 January 2009; 'Art in Revolution: Liverpool 1911', Walker Art Gallery, 24 June - 25 September 2011; 'Gauguin and Polynesia Exhibition', Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, 24 September - 30 December 2011

1 Related People & Organizations

4 Related Publications