COLLECTION NAME:
The AMICA Library
Record
AMICA ID:
CMA_.1978.63
AMICA Library Year:
1998
Object Type:
Paintings
Creator Name:
Gauguin, Paul
Creator Nationality:
European; French
Creator Role:
artist
Creator Dates/Places:
1848 - 1903
Gender:
M
Creator Name-CRT:
Paul Gauguin
Title:
In the Waves
Title:
Dans les vagues
Title Type:
Primary
Title Type:
Foreign
View:
Full View
Creation Date:
1889
Creation Start Date:
1889
Creation End Date:
1889
Materials and Techniques:
oil on canvas
Dimensions:
Unframed: 92cm x 72cm
AMICA Contributor:
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Owner Location:
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
ID Number:
1978.63
Credit Line:
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William Powell Jones
Inscriptions:
signed lower center: P. Gauguin. 89-
Context:
Gauguin painted this canvas in April 1889 at Pont-Aven, a small village in northwest France. He left Paris for this remote, rugged area along the Atlantic coasts in hopes of finding a more primitive, natural life. The painting shows a nude woman, one hand raised to her mouth, throwing herself into the sea. This mysterious image has been interpreted as symbolic of the soul's abandoning itself to nature. Intensifying the painting's emotional impact, the simplified lines and colors, especially the contrasting green and orange, seem invented rather than observed from life. In 1889 this painting appeared in an exhibition at the Café Volpini in Paris, considered to be the first exhibition of the Symbolists- a group of artists whose works explored dreams,fantasy, and the realm of the imagination.
Related Image Identifier Link:
CMA_.1978.63.tif
Link To Source
