Paul Gauguin - Tahitian women on the beach. Tahitian Women Bathing 1892

Tahitian women on the beach. Tahitian Women Bathing 1892
Tahitian women on the beach. Tahitian Women Bathing
1892 109x81cm oil/canvas
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City

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From Metropolitan Museum of Art:
Most likely started in May of 1892 during Gauguin’s first trip to Tahiti, this painting has provoked uncertainty among scholars for its unusual composition and medium. The composition is dominated by large, oddly proportioned figures. They are detached from one another as well as from their surroundings, remaining somewhat unearthly and autonomous. The painting was originally executed on inexpensive paper, which the artist often employed during his stay in Tahiti. Gauguin’s dealer, Ambroise Vollard, later lined the work of art with canvas and overpainted portions of the top left corner, presumably to make the painting more appropriate for sale if it was either damaged or left unfinished.
Both the medium and autonomy of figures is probably due to the fact that this painting began as a set of preparatory drawings, most likely for other paintings, which at some point the artist weaved into an original composition.