In this tropical paradise of the artist\u2019s 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\u2014or perhaps the same person seen from two angles.<\/p>\n
Unlike his other Tahitian-inspired landscapes, this painting was produced in Paris shortly after Paul Gauguin\u2019s first trip to the island. Drawn from fantasy and memory, the psychedelic composition is one of the most abstract and avant-garde works of the artist\u2019s career.<\/p>\n","short_description":"Drawn from fantasy and memory, this composition is one of the most abstract and avant-garde works of Gauguin's career. In a tropical paradise, a deity presides over figures by an embankment. Arranged in groups, the figures appear more as symbolic forms than as individuals. Pools of water in interlocking zones of acidic color surround the feet of a bather, who is flanked by two prone figures\u2014or perhaps the same person seen from two angles.","dimensions":"68 \u00d7 91 cm (26 7\/8 \u00d7 36 in.); Framed: 87.7 \u00d7 110.5 \u00d7 6.4 cm (34 1\/2 \u00d7 43 1\/2 \u00d7 2 1\/2 in.)","dimensions_detail":[{"depth":null,"width":91,"height":68,"diameter":null,"clarification":null},{"depth":6,"width":110,"height":87,"diameter":null,"clarification":"Framed"}],"medium_display":"Oil on linen canvas","inscriptions":null,"credit_line":"Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection","catalogue_display":"
Wildenstein Gauguin 1964 513<\/p>","publication_history":"The Art Institute of Chicago, A Guide to the Paintings in the Permanent Collection (Chicago, 1925), no. 2242.\n\nThe Art News 24, 10 (December 12), 1925, p. 8 (ill.).\n\n\u201cThe Birch-Bartlett Loan Collection,\u201d Bulletin of The Art Institute of Chicago 19, 7 (October 1925), p. 82 (ill. on cover).\n\nForbes Watson, \u201cA Note on the Birch-Bartlett Collection,\u201d The Arts 9, 6 (June 1926), p. 305 (ill.).\n\nModern Paintings in the Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial from the Birch-Bartlett Collection (Chicago: Art Institute, 1926), 6, pl. 7.\n \nR. M. Fishkin, \u201cA Late Gauguin,\u201d Bulletin of The Art Institute of Chicago 21, 6 (September 1927), pp. 74\u201375.\n\nR. M. Fishkin, \u201cGauguin Given to Art Institute,\u201d Art News 25, 40 (September 17, 1927), p. 7.\n\nMorton Dauwen Zabel, \u201cAn American gallery of Modern Painting,\u201d Art and Archaeology 26, 6 (December 1928), pp. 233, (ill.) 234.\n\nThe Art Institute of Chicago, Modern Paintings in the Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial from the Birch-Bartlett Collection (Chicago, 1929), pp. 12, 58, (ill.) 13.\n\n\u201cChicago show to present French modern classics,\u201d Art News 31, 34 (May 20, 1933), p. 4.\n\n\u201cThe Rearrangement of the Painting Galleries,\u201d Bulletin of The Art Institute of Chicago, 27, 7 (December 1933), p. 116 (ill.).\n\nDaniel Catton Rich, \u201cThe Exhibirion of French Art \u2018Art Institute of Chicago,\u2019\u201d Formes 33 (1933), p. 383.\n\nR. H. Wilenski, French Painting ( Boston, 1936), p. 289.\n\nE. M. Benson, \u201cExhibition reviews, \u201c American Magazine of Art 29 (May 1936), p. 235, (ill.) 324.\n\nR. C. Goldwater, \u201cSome Aspects of the Development of Seurat\u2019s Style,\u201d The Art Bulletin 23, 1 (March 1941), p. 129, fig. 22.\n\nThe Art Institute of Chicago, Modern Paintings in the Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial, (Chicago, 1946), pp. 14, (ill.) 15.\n\nEgbert Jacobson, Basic Color, an Interpretation of the Ostwald Color System (Chicago, 1948), pp. 81\u2013183, (ill.) 181.\n\nCarl O. Schiewind, \u201cPaul Gauguin,\u201d Bulletin of The Art Institute of Chicago 43, 3 (September 15, 1949), p. 46 (ill.).\n\nCharles Estienne, Gauguin (Geneva, 1953), p. 87 (ill.).\n\nVisionaries and Dreamers exh. cat. (Washington D. C., The Corcoran Gallery of Art, 1956), fig. 12.\n\nGeorges Wildenstein, \u201cL\u2019Id\u00e9ologie et l\u2019esth\u00e9tique dans deux tableaux-cl\u00e9s de Gauguin,\u201d Gazette des Beaux-Arts 47, per. 6 (January\u2013April 1956), fig. 10.\n\nRobert Goldwater, Paul Gauguin (New York, 1957), pp. 39, 126, ill., 127.\n\n\u201cGauguin,\u201d The Art Institute of Chicago Quarterly 53, 1 (February 1959), p. 3 (ill.).\n\nHenri Perruchot, La vie de Gauguin (Paris, 1961), p. 281.\n\nThe Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of The Picture Collection (Chicago, 1961), pp. 170\u2013171, (ill.) 335.\n\nGeorges Wildenstein, Gauguin (Paris, 1964), no. 513 (ill.).\n\nGeorges Boudalille, Gauguin, trans. Alisa Jaffa (New York, 1964), p. 180 (ill.).\n\nRaymond Charmet, Gauguin (Verviers, 1965), p. 63 (ill.).\n\nFrederick A. Sweet, \u201cA Great Chicago Collectors,\u201d Apollo 84, 55 (September 1966), p. 197, fig. 15.\n\nWilliam M. Kane, \u201cGauguin\u2019s \u2018Le Cheval Blanc\u2019: Sources and Syncretic Meanings,\u201d Burlington Magazine 108, 760 (July 1966), p. 361.\n\nBengt Danielsson, \u201cGauguin\u2019s Tahitian Titles,\u201d Burlington Magazine 7, 760 (April 1967), p. 231.\n\nJoseph Ishikawa, \u201cModern Malgr\u00e9 lui: The Phenomenon of Puvis de Chavannes,\u201d Art Journal 27, 4 (Summer 1968), p. 386 (ill.).\n\nJohn Maxon, The Art Institute of Chicago (London, 1970), pp. 97\u201398, (ill.) 97.\n\n G. M. Sugana, L\u2019opera completa di Gauguin (Milan, 1972), no. 336, pl. 38.\n\nHerbert Lee van Dowski, Die Wahreit \u00fcber Gauguin, mit Vielen, zum Teil farbigen Abbildungen und einem \u2018Katalog der Gem\u00e4lde\u2019 (Darmstadt, 1973), no. 329a.\n\nLionello Venturi, Impressionists and Symbolists, trans by Francis Steegmuller (New York, 1950), pp. 171\u2013172, fig. 174.\n\nGeorges Wildenstein, Gauguin (Paris, 1964), no. 513 (ill.).\n\nRen\u00e9 Huyghe, La rel\u00e9ve du reel impressionnisme symbolisme (Paris, 1974), no. 283 (ill.).\n\nAlan C. Birnholz, \u201cDouble Images reconsidered: a fresh look at Gauguin\u2019s Yellow Christ,\u201d Art International 21, 5 (October\u2013November 1977), p. 31, (ill) 30.\n\nMarjorie Elliot Bevlin, Design through Discovery (New York, 1977).\n\nTheodore Reff, \u201cDegas: A Master Among Masters, \u201c The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 34, 4 (Spring 1977), p. 49 (ill.).\n\nJ. Patrice Marandel, The Art Institute of Chicago, Favorite Impressionist Paintings. The Art Institute of Chicago: 100 Masterpieces (Chicago, 1978), no. 78.\n\nThe Art Institute of Chicago, 100 Masterpieces (Chicago, 1978), no. 72.\n\nDiane Kelder, The Great Book of French Impressionism (New York, 1980), p. 22 (ill.).\n\nHouston Museum of Fine Arts Bulletin 7, 4 (Fall 1981).\n\nRichard Brettell, \u201cThe Bartletts and the Grande Jatte: Collecting Modern Painting in the 1920s,\u201d The Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 12, 2 (1986), fig. 4.\n\nMary Louise Krumrine, Paul C\u00e9zanne: The Bathers exh. cat. (Kunstmuseum Basel, 1989), p. 285.\n\nPeggy Vance, Gauguin (London, 1991), p. 126-7, ill., 144.\n\nThe Age of Impressionism at the Art Institute of Chicago (New Haven and London, 2008), cat. 71, pp. 148\u201349 (ill.).\n\nGauguin: Tales from Paradise, exh. cat. (Milan: 24ore Cultura, 2015), 150\u201351, 176\u201377 (color ill.)\n\n\u201cGauguin, Cat. 72, Mahana no atua (Day of the God) (1926.198),\u201d in Gauguin Paintings, Sculpture, and Graphic Works at the Art Institute of Chicago, ed. Gloria Groom and Genevieve Westerby (Art Institute of Chicago, 2016), https:\/\/publications.artic.edu\/gauguin\/reader\/gauguinart\/section\/140163<\/a>.\n\nGloria Groom, ed. Gauguin: Artist as Alchemist, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago\/ Yale University Press, 2017). p. 260-261, 286n5, 292, 331, cat. 203.\n\nClaire Bernardi and Oph\u00e9lie Ferlier-Bouat, Guaguin: L\u2019alchimiste, exh. cat. (Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Osay\/ R\u00e9union des mus\u00e9ea nationaux-Grand Palais\/ Graphicom, 2017), p. 203, 304, cat. 206.\n\nAdriano Pedrosa, Fernando Oliva and Laura Cosendey, eds., Paul Gauguin: The Other and I, exh. cat. (S\u00e3o Paulo: Museu de Arte de S\u00e3o Paulo, 2023), front matter (detail), 126, 222 fig. 125, 261.","exhibition_history":"Boston, Art Club, 1925.\n\nNew York, Museum of Modern Art, C\u00e9zanne, Gauguin, Seurat, Van Gogh, November 1929, cat. 46 (ill).\n\nThe Art Institute of Chicago, Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, June 1\u2013November 1, 1933, cat. 355.\n\nThe Art Institute of Chicago, Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, June 1\u2013November 1, 1934, cat. 301.\n\nCambridge, Mass., Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Paul Gauguin 1848\u20131903, May 1\u201321, 1936, cat. 28.\n\nBaltimore, Museum of Art, Paul Gauguin 1848\u20131903. A Retrospective Exhibition of His Paintings, May 24\u2013June 5, 1936, cat. 17.\n\nNew York, Wildenstein and Co., Inc., Paul Gauguin: A Retrospective Loan Exhibition For the Benefit of Les Amis de Paul Gauguin and The Penn Normal Industrial and Agricultural School, March 20\u2013April 18, 1936, cat. 29.\n\nThe Art Institute of Chicago, Gauguin, Paintings, Drawings, Prints, Sculpture, February 12\u2013March 29, 1959, cat. 57, traveled to New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, March 29\u2013April 21, 1959.\n\nWashington, D. C., National Gallery of Art, The Art of Paul Gauguin, May 1\u2013July 31, 1988; cat. 205 (ill.); Art Institute of Chicago, September 17\u2013December 11, 1988; Paris, Grand Palais, January 10\u2013April 20, 1989 [Washington and Chicago only].\n\nMoscow, The Pushkin Museum, Gauguin in Russia, May\u2013June 1989, cat. 37 (ill.); Leningrad [St. Petersburg], The Hermitage, July\u2013October, 1989.\n\nLondon, National Gallery, Degas as a Collector, May 22-August 26, 1996, cat. 57 (ill.).\n\nNew York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Private Collection of Edgar Degas, October 1, 1997-January 11, 1998, cat. 483 (ill.).\n\nEssen, Museum Folkwang, Paul Gauguin: Das verlorene Paradies, June 17-October 18, 1998, cat. 34 (ill.), traveled to Nationalgalerie Berlin, October 31, 1998-January 10, 1999.\n\nThe Art Institute of Chicago, Van Gogh and Gauguin: The Studio of the South, September 22, 2001-January 13, 2002, cat. 142 (ill.), traveled to The Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, February 9-June 6, 2002.\n\nParis, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Gauguin: Tahiti, September 30, 2003-January 19, 2004, cat. 105 (ill.), traveled to Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, February 29, 2004-June 20, 2004.\n\nFort Worth, Tex., Kimbell Museum of Art, The Impressionists: Master Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago, June 29\u2013November 2, 2008, cat. 71 (ill.).\n\nLondon, Tate Modern, Paul Gauguin: Maker of Myth, September 30, 2010-January 16, 2011; Washington, DC, National Gallery of Art, February 21-May 30, 2011 [Washington only].\n\nMilan, Museum of Cultures, Paul Gauguin: Tales from Paradise, October 28,2015-February 21, 2016 no cat. no.\n\nChicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, Gauguin: Artist as Alchemist, June 25-Sept. 10. 2017; Paris, Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Orsay, Oct. 9, 2017-Jan. 1, 2018.\n\nMuseu de Arte de S\u00e3o Paulo, Paul Gauguin: The Other and I. Apr. 28-Aug. 6, 2023, fig. 125.","provenance_text":"Bought from the artist\u2019s 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]; given to the Art Institute, Chicago, 1926.","edition":null,"publishing_verification_level":"Web Cataloged","internal_department_id":14,"fiscal_year":1926,"fiscal_year_deaccession":null,"is_public_domain":true,"is_zoomable":true,"max_zoom_window_size":-1,"copyright_notice":null,"has_multimedia_resources":true,"has_educational_resources":false,"has_advanced_imaging":false,"colorfulness":37.882,"color":{"h":46,"l":43,"s":55,"percentage":0.011881255339492728,"population":63},"latitude":41.8795844932776,"longitude":-87.622399739921,"latlon":"41.879584493278,-87.622399739921","is_on_view":true,"on_loan_display":null,"gallery_title":"Gallery 247","gallery_id":2147479699,"nomisma_id":null,"artwork_type_title":"Painting","artwork_type_id":1,"department_title":"Painting and Sculpture of Europe","department_id":"PC-10","artist_id":34611,"artist_title":"Paul Gauguin","alt_artist_ids":[],"artist_ids":[34611],"artist_titles":["Paul Gauguin"],"category_ids":["PC-10","PC-839"],"category_titles":["Painting and Sculpture of Europe","Save Ferris"],"term_titles":["oil on canvas","oil painting","Post-Impressionism","women","oil paint (paint)","france","french","oil paintings (visual works)","paint","canvas","linen","paint","painting","painting","painting (image making)","painting techniques","19th century","nineteenth century","abstract","beach","celebrations","clouds","colonialism","figure","figures","France","French","nudes","shore","sky","statues","trees","painting","european painting","weather\/seasons","dancers","landscapes","mysteries\/fantasies","religious scenes","water","Century of Progress","world's fairs","Chicago World's Fairs"],"style_id":"TM-7547","style_title":"Post-Impressionism","alt_style_ids":["TM-13203","TM-15636"],"style_ids":["TM-7547","TM-13203","TM-15636"],"style_titles":["Post-Impressionism","19th century","nineteenth century"],"classification_id":"TM-66","classification_title":"oil on canvas","alt_classification_ids":["TM-14238","TM-14976","TM-78","TM-10387","TM-9","TM-54"],"classification_ids":["TM-66","TM-14238","TM-14976","TM-78","TM-10387","TM-9","TM-54"],"classification_titles":["oil on canvas","france","french","oil paintings (visual works)","paint","painting","european painting"],"subject_id":"TM-8735","alt_subject_ids":["TM-15130","TM-14715","TM-12612","TM-11222","TM-14793","TM-14859","TM-15161","TM-12288","TM-12622","TM-8649","TM-14901","TM-12468","TM-12600","TM-11205","TM-10095","TM-10119","TM-8657","TM-10184","TM-10125","TM-8681","TM-12169","TM-11299","TM-12176"],"subject_ids":["TM-8735","TM-15130","TM-14715","TM-12612","TM-11222","TM-14793","TM-14859","TM-15161","TM-12288","TM-12622","TM-8649","TM-14901","TM-12468","TM-12600","TM-11205","TM-10095","TM-10119","TM-8657","TM-10184","TM-10125","TM-8681","TM-12169","TM-11299","TM-12176"],"subject_titles":["women","abstract","beach","celebrations","clouds","colonialism","figure","figures","France","French","nudes","shore","sky","statues","trees","weather\/seasons","dancers","landscapes","mysteries\/fantasies","religious scenes","water","Century of Progress","world's fairs","Chicago World's Fairs"],"material_id":"TM-2451","alt_material_ids":["TM-3124","TM-14007","TM-2577","TM-13502"],"material_ids":["TM-2451","TM-3124","TM-14007","TM-2577","TM-13502"],"material_titles":["oil paint (paint)","canvas","linen","paint","painting"],"technique_id":"TM-4273","alt_technique_ids":["TM-14210","TM-3891","TM-3971"],"technique_ids":["TM-4273","TM-14210","TM-3891","TM-3971"],"technique_titles":["oil painting","painting","painting (image making)","painting techniques"],"theme_titles":["Save Ferris"],"image_id":"a4bef587-48a4-d186-813d-f297441b1ab3","alt_image_ids":[],"document_ids":["0dbcfd86-376d-3758-af3e-892d1d1427a7"],"sound_ids":["0dbcfd86-376d-3758-af3e-892d1d1427a7"],"video_ids":[],"text_ids":[],"section_ids":[39611835681],"section_titles":["Cat. 72 \u00a0Mahana no atua (Day of the God), 1894"],"site_ids":[],"suggest_autocomplete_all":[{"input":["1926.198"],"contexts":{"groupings":["accession"]}},{"input":["Mahana no atua (Day of the God)"],"weight":30601,"contexts":{"groupings":["title"]}}],"source_updated_at":"2025-12-18T14:35:43-06:00","updated_at":"2026-09-01T03:05:49-05:00","timestamp":"2026-09-06T05:52:13-05:00"},"info":{"license_text":"The `description` field in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Generic License (CC-By) and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. 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