Tahiti

Tahiti

When Gauguin migrated to Tahiti, he was disheartened to see that much of the island had been westernized by French colonization. He had a preconceived notion that Tahiti was this "untouched paradise," (Paul Gauguin, Encyclopedia Britannica), which he derived from the novel "Le Mariage de Loti," by Pierre Loti. As a result, Gauguin chose to spend his time in Tahiti with the natives, isolated away from Europeans residing in the capital.

Because of his choice to reside with the natives and far away from European civilization, Gauguin found himself in an environment that had less industrialization; meaning there was more of a push to create art through oil painting, rather than printmaking. In fact, if he wanted to create prints, he had to create monotypes instead. A monotype is a single print taken from a design created in oil paint or printing ink on glass or metal.

Gauguin's first portrait of a Tahitian model is thought to be Vahine no te Tiare (Woman with a Flower). Many of Gauguin's works created in Tahiti have aspects of native culture, in addition to his own. In his painting, "La Orana Maria," the Christian figures, Virgin Mary and Jesus, are reflected by a Tahitian mother and child.

In Tahiti, Gauguin became associated with a 13-year-old Tahitian girl (as he had a preference for younger girls). This Tahitian girl fulfilled the role of a model for numerous amounts of his paintings in Tahiti.

Although Gauguin fell in love with the environment in Tahiti, he returned to France in 1893 to exhibit some of the works he created. However, it wasn't that successful considering that many art buyers and critics had mixed responses regarding his primitivist style of painting. However, he continued to create paintings based on his experiences and people from Tahiti in France, such as Mahana no Atua (Day of the God) and Nave nave moe (Sacred Spring, sweet dreams).

Not long after heading to France, Gauguin returned back to French Polynesia and continued painting. This time, he created one of his masterpieces: a canvas painting titled "Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?"