Mahana no atua (Day of the God)

1894

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—or perhaps the same person seen from two angles.

Public domain · CC0
Free to download and reuse. Image courtesy of Art Institute of Chicago.

Artist

Paul Gauguin (French, 1848–1903)

Date

1894

Medium

Oil on linen canvas

Dimensions

68 × 91 cm (26 7/8 × 36 in.); Framed: 87.7 × 110.5 × 6.4 cm (34 1/2 × 43 1/2 × 2 1/2 in.)

Origin

France

Collection

Art Institute of Chicago

Credit

Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection